Acacia Lily Yarrow: My Hunger Games
by KelsNicole92
Summary: Acacia, the female tribute for District Thirteen is about to realize what she wants out of life. Ethan is her best friend, who has just shown his feelings for her. Alwin is the boy who saved her brother, who just might be the one. What will she do?
1. Chapter 1:A Horrible Day

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games or anything associated with The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins and Scholastic do.**

**Hey everyone! As you can tell this obviously takes place after Mockingjay, there are a few spoilers in here, so caution. I have fixed this first chapter and will be fixing all of the others as well. There is a sequel, so if you like the story and finish it please check it out. Please leave a review!  
Thank you and enjoy!  
*~KelsNicole~* **

I walk by the fence, the fence trapping us in like animals. The cold air stings my eyes and they start to water. Snow begins to fall and I know that I need to start heading to the center of my District, I cannot be late. Looking at the fence one last time I begin to retrace my steps back towards home. Without really noticing I stare up at the trees, savoring their memory just in case I don't come back.

You see the Capital allows one member from each family between the ages of 14-18 to compete in the Hunger Games. If you decide to compete you could win supplies for your family, a safe place for you and your family…in the Capital. At least two people, one boy and one girl, seven of the thirteen Districts must compete. If two people don't volunteer then the Capital chooses who goes in. We've heard stories about the old version of the Hunger Games and seen the footage, they think this is the new and better version. Yeah, better for them.

The Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen-Mellark and Peeta Mellark fought against it, they are the two star-crossed lovers from District Twelve-from the old Hunger Games. After outrage broke out over the "new" Hunger Games the two of them disappeared with their two children. We have heard no more on them. This happened fifteen years ago, now I am old enough to go in.

My name is Acacia Lily Yarrow and I just turned fourteen yesterday. I have my mother's looks, a light brown hair and green eyes, but I act like my father. Every day I remind my mom of my father, which worries her. You see he disappeared when I was only ten, we know it was the Capital's doing because he rebelled against them. None of us have any hope that he is still alive or he is worse off, if he's still alive he is an avox or worse.

"Aca!" I turn to the voice from behind me, a young girly voice. For me its not hard to tell that its my little sister Calendula, she is seven. She looks more like our father, blonde wavy hair and beautiful gray eyes. Her personality is more like our mother's though. "You can't be late!"

"I was coming home right now Dula." She catches up to me and I take her hand. We walk back toward home. My family always goes to the Mors Neutro together and watch as some of our friends-our family sign up or are forced to go to their deaths. My mother doesn't want me to ever volunteer to go into the Hunger Games, it would mean my death. But what if we need it? She doesn't care, she said that she would rather be tortured to death then watch me go into the Hunger Games and be killed, be tortured. "Are mom, Gloxinia and Abudemio ready?"

"Everyone's ready. We were all waiting for you." Dula is quiet for a moment, just by looking into her eyes I can tell that she is debating on weather or not to ask me something. "Nia, Mio and mom think that you are going to volunteer to go into the games….are you? Aca?"

"Dula, I-" my mouth snaps shut and I know that I can't be doing this right now, not here. They'll be able to see soon enough. "Of course not…where did they get that idea from?"

"Mom, well she-knows that you are worried about everything. Nothing's going right and you want to help protect everyone."

I stare straight ahead and try to gather up the strength not to tell Dula what I am planning on doing, none of them will ever agree with it. But if I don't do this all of us will be dead soon. "Don't worry Dula. I promise that I won't go in unless I don't have a choice…"

We have reached our house, a small red brick house. There are three bedrooms, one for our mother, one for our brother and one for my two sisters and me to share. I hug my mom when I see her sitting at the table, there's a worried expression on her face. Rumors are going around that no one is going to volunteer this year, which means that they will choose who goes in. My mother knows that we are at the top of the list, because of our father. She's brushing little Gloxinia's hair, but she's watching me as I walk over to Mio.

I'm the oldest, Mio is only nine and Nia is twelve. Nia and I are the two who remember our father the most. Mio looks and acts like our father down to the way that he talks. Nia is like our mother in every way, from the hair to her personality. But there is one thing that neither of them have that our father had, his fire. That is why my mother worries about me so much, I have that fire. One time someone was teasing Nia and let's just say that I intervened, that day I got sent home from school after "attacking" the person. Of course that wasn't the first or last time I did that. If someone messes with my family they have to answer to me.

"Aca." My mother stands up and nods to the door. I shut my eyes knowing that my two best friends are here. "Door."

Quickly I open the door, Ethan and Alyssa are standing there. I smile a little as they walk into my house, Alyssa and Ethan are like twins, their birthday was a few months ago, they are both fifteen. Both of them are nervous, everyone is.

"Okay." My mother walks into the room, she's composed herself. "Alyssa, Ethan. Are you two going with your family or are you joining us?"

"We'll catch up with them on the walk there." Ethan says with a small smile. "Don't worry everything will be fine."

"Yes, what is there to worry about?" I turn to Ethan. "Just that no one wants to volunteer, so my chances are higher."

"You'll be fine." Alyssa says hugging me. "We all will be and we will come back here after. All of this will be over soon."

We walk outside, its October 31st, the day of the dead. Tonight fourteen of us will be taken away from our homes and have to fight to live. Did I mention that to advance and to live you have to navigate your way to the Capital? From where ever you are. You are alone, the person from your District is in a totally different place. Most of the time by the time you can catch up with one another one or both of them are dead.

The center of our District is full and no one is talking, this is the day that everyone is dreading. I stand with my family, the nervousness is setting in. Everyone's looking at one another in anticipation for this to end, for the misery to end.

"Welcome!" I hate that cheery voice, Abigail Levington is up on stage. "Everyone looks so happy! Well, let's get started so that everyone can begin the celebration. Ladies first. Do we have any volunteers?"

No one volunteers, no one even breaths. This is what I was dreading. Abigail begins to tut-tut and looks down at a piece of paper in her hands, one that I'm sure has my name on it.

"No volunteers?" She shakes her head as if saddened by this. "Okay, then our tribute from District Thirteen is….Calendula May Yarrow!"

I stand here in shock, in horror, in outrage. Dula isn't even fourteen yet! This is unfair! Not right. Before I know what I'm doing I walk up to the stage and don't look back. Abigail stares at me as I stand next to her on the stage.

"Are you Calendula?" She asks in her happiest voice.

"No." Is all that I say.

"Well…" Abigail looks around confused. "Who are you?"

"I'm your worst nightmare…"


	2. Chapter 2:A Jabberjay?

**Hey everyone! I am finally fixing the chapters =D . Sorry that it took so long, but I don't have them saved to my laptop. Hope that these are easier to read! Thank you for everything and please leave a review!  
Enjoy!  
*~KelsNicole~***

Everyone is quiet as they watch me stand beside Abigail. No one knows what to say, not even my family. All of them are staring at me in horror, my mother's arm is around little Dula. Abigail just continues to stare at me.

"Who are you?" Abigail asks regaining my attention. "Name?"

"Acacia Yarrow." I say not even looking at her. "My turn to ask a question. Isn't the age limit between fourteen to eighteen?"

"Yes." She says getting her happy voice back. "Why?"

"My little sister, Calendula is only seven." I stare at her, the anger is becoming over whelming. "How could she be a possibility for the Games?"

"Uh…" Her light blue hair bobs up and down on top of her head. She looks down at her notes and smiles sweetly. "Oh, they changed the rules, now if no one volunteers any child can be chosen."

"All of you disgust me." I say through my teeth, Abigail just stares at me in shock. "Well, looks like I'm in."

"You are volunteering?" Her eyebrows raise as she looks me up and down. She is obviously surprised that I would. "To take Calendula's place?"

"Yes." I say not looking at her. "Let's get on with it."

"Now for the male tribute." She says looking at the crowd, her smile doesn't waver. "Any volunteers?"

Not one person steps forward or breaths. Everyone just stands still, together, as one. I don't know what's going to happen. Who will they choose…no, not Abudemio, not my brother.

"Well…." Abigail says looking down at her piece of paper again. "No volunteers, what a shame. Let's see….Abudemio Yarrow."

My heart sinks as I watch Mio walk toward the stage. Once he is on stage he hugs me and I feel myself slipping. The Capital won't only be taking me away from my family, they'll be taking Mio as well. Will they keep going until all of my family is gone?

"Now, this is a new one! What an exciting Hunger Games this will be!" Abigail says in her cheery voice. Right now I could deck her and not care what the consequences would be. "I'll ask again, any volunteers? Come on, don't be shy…"

I stare into the crowd, everyone is shocked-appalled. There is a tiny movement as someone puts his hand into the air. Abigail seems shocked but invites the person onto the stage. As soon as he is within view I know who it is, Alwin Coin. Alwin is a sixteen year old, he has blonde wavy hair and blue eyes. We've talked a few times, were even best friends as kids.

"Name?" Abigail asks looking excited.

"Alwin Coin." He says in a low voice. "Mio, go back to your family."

Mio practically runs off the stage and hugs our family. All of them stare at me with tears in their eyes, they all know the chances of me coming home alive are slim. Alwin stands beside me and I close my eyes, thankful that he has taken Mio's place, but I feel bad at the same time. He signed up for his death by volunteering.

"Our tributes, Acacia Yarrow and Alwin Coin!" Abigail says in an excited voice. She is thrilled that two people volunteered, most of the time no one volunteers. "Give them a round of applause!"

What everyone does shocks me, they all turn their backs to us-to the Capital. Abigail stands beside me looking horrified. Everything is over, the Mors Neutro is over, m life is over. When two guards come out to take Alwin and me to our rooms to say good-bye to our loved ones chaos breaks out. The two of us are rushed away from the crowd, people are yelling and I hear things being thrown.

Once inside the Justice Building we are taken to our separate rooms. I sit on the floor, I know insane me when there is a couch covered with velvet for me to sit on. The door opens and my family rushes in, I hug all of them tightly to me. Without realizing it I allow the tears that I've held back to rush out.

"Aca, my Aca." My mom says as she hugs me to her. Tears are rushing out of her eyes. "I wish that you weren't…"

"I know." Dula is on my lap, hugging me the tightest. "But I had to, I couldn't let Dula go in…"

"Honey…" My mom says and then she is silent, her tears make it too hard for her to talk. "We…love…you…"

That's the last thing they say to me: We love you. Within minutes they are dragged from the room, leaving me here…alone. My friends come in to say good-bye to me, all of them are crying.

"You have to come back." Ethan tells me. "You have to."

"I'll try. Ethan, I'll really try." My eyes sting and I can't cry anymore. Crying is a sign of weakness and I will not show any sign of weakness. "Why is this happening? What have we done to deserve this?"

"Nothing…" He says then he does something that shocks me, he kisses me. I stare at him with wide eyes. "Sorry…"

"Don't be." I say and look down. "Please…don't…if Mio gets chosen again don't let him go in."

"I promise." He says. "Please come back to me."

Something inside of me flips when he says that. "Come back to _me_", not to _us_ to _me_. Ethan leaves a few seconds later, not willingly though. I sit here trying to make sense of everything…I always thought he liked Alyssa. Looks like I was wrong…

The door opens again and Alyssa rushes in, she said that she wanted to be the last one to see me. I hug my best friend to me. She doesn't cry and I know that its for my sake, she knows once one tear falls from her then I'll start crying.

"I can't believe this." She says with her eyes shut. "You can't be going in, this has to be a horrible nightmare."

"I wish it was." We both sit on the floor. "Watch out for my sister's will you? Have Ethan too?"

"Of course." Alyssa is fingering the little pin on her shirt. It's a Jabberjay, a friend of her mother's gave her the pin. Mrs. Everdeen, gave her the pin. "Here…"

"No." I say shaking my head. "I can't. The pin means a lot to you."

"The Jabberjays were Capital made, they made it when they thought that they'd just die out." She is attaching the pin to my shirt and I see the tiny flicker of hope in her eyes. "You are a Jabberjay. Show the Capital that you won't die, that you will come back and be strong."

"Either way its death." Alyssa stares at me, confused. "I live and have to remember everything that happened or I am killed by _them_."

"You'll get to live in the Capital, you and the rest of your family." Alyssa reminds me. It was never seen as a plus to any of us. "All of you will be safe…"

"I wouldn't live in the Capital even if I did win." She smirks a little at that. "Never…"

"So you won't give up?" Alyssa smiles at me. "You'll be a Jabberjay?"

I smirk a little and it doesn't feel forced. Alyssa always says the right things. "Yes, I won't give up. I'm the….Jabberjay!"

We both laugh, but the moment of laughter is interrupted when the guards come to take Alyssa away from me. She gives me once last smile and then she is gone. All of the hope that I had felt when she was her leaves with her. I close my eyes and say to myself, "you _are _a Jabberjay. You _are_ a Jabberjay. You _can_ do this…"

I'll do this. I won't give up. I am a Jabberjay, I am the Capitals' nightmare.

**Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! =D **


	3. Chapter 3:A Plan

**Hey everyone! I am finally fixing the chapters =D . Sorry that it took so long, but I don't have them saved to my laptop. Hope that these are easier to read! Thank you for everything and please leave a review!  
Enjoy!  
*~KelsNicole~***

I stand here staring out of the windows, watching District Thirteen, my home fade away. A tear escapes from my eye, but I know that I've made the right decision. The Capital knew what they were doing, I would have volunteered to take the place of either of Dula or Nia.

"You okay?" A voice comes from behind me and someone touches my shoulder. I jump and realize that its only Alwin. "Sorry.."

"Um, yeah." I say looking at him. "Thanks by the way."

"For what?" He stands beside me and we both keep our eyes in the direction of District Thirteen. "It wasn't right…"

"I know, but…my family is already losing me and the Capital wanted to put Mio in with me. That would be a horrible battle." Looking down at my hands I think about everyone back home, about how much I hate the Capital. The Capital has taken so much from my family and me….well they won't take my life. "If you wouldn't have volunteered Mio would be standing here with me and he would have to learn to fight. To kill."

"Mio is a good kid." Alwin says and I look at him. He is still staring back at District Thirteen. "I'm sorry that we drifted."

"So am I." And I really am. He has always been such a good friend to me. "We used to never be a part."

"Now we always are." He sighs. "Looks like it will end with us together though…"

"I can't kill you…" My eyes are shut now, everything is over whelming. "You just saved my brothers life and….you are a great friend."

"Well, we won't have to worry about killing each other. Thank god." He looks up at the sky, which is starting to darken. "Try to stay alive until we can catch up and we'll go on together. Two people can win, that's the rules."

I look at him. "For some reason I feel the rules are going to change really quick."

"Why?" He stares at me puzzled.

"Because now I'm in the Games." I look at him and see that he's still confused. "My dad, he didn't just…disappear. He went against the Capital, my mom won't tell me what he did, but he disappeared shortly after."

"Ace." I look at him and smile a little. Ace is the nickname he gave to me, I haven't heard it in a long time. "He's still alive."

"If he's still alive then he's an avox." Just saying the word makes my stomach churn. My dad, he can't be an avox and if he is…the Capital will pay. "What's the point to it if he is?"

"He's still alive." Alwin says pulling me into a hug. "Ace, he's still your dad."

Someone clears their throat from behind us and we turn. Just by looking at him we can both tell who it is. In the first "new" Hunger Games an eighteen year old male was chosen, his name is Odysseus Collins. Odysseus has striking blue eyes and dark hair, his hair is to his shoulders. He killed ten of the fourteen tributes, but he lost the girl that went in with him. Aphrodite Mellington, a sixteen year old girl was the female tribute. She had long wavy light brown hair and hypnotizing bright green eyes. None of the girls volunteered to take her place because she was beautiful and had captured the hearts of many men. A another female tribute ended up killing her because Aphrodite was begging them all to stand together and she did bring them together. But that did not please the Capital, which meant harder conditions for the tributes and less resources. After her death Odysseus went into a rage and killed many of the tributes, until he found the one that had killed Aphrodite. Once the Games had ended he talked about her more and more to everyone, she had said yes to marrying him before they were both chosen to go into the Games. He had lost his true love and he has always sworn he would get his revenge for her death.

"So you two are the tributes from District Thirteen." It is a statement not a question, he walks toward us looking us up and down. "Come with me, I'll see what I can do with you two."

We follow him in silence. He leads us down the hallway and into a small sitting room. The room has red velvet walls, with white carpet and a small table in the center of the room. All of us sit down at the table, which has five seats around it. I touch the table cloth, a white silky table cloth.

"Now I know the both of you." He says looking from Alwin to me. "You both know me, so let's not get into any of that stuff. Neither of you know how to fight or hunt."

"What do you think we should do?" I ask in a quiet voice. This is my confirmation, we are both as good as dead. "Suggestions?"

"Try to make a pact with all of the other tributes to not fight until you all get the Cornucopia. Some of the tributes will be against it, but six or five of you verses them?" He turns around and presses a button. "Now just remember not to get attached to the other tributes, only care about saving each other. That should get you far enough in that you two have a chance."

"How do you think that we could get that far?" I stare at him. "They'll all want to kill us fast and early. It's the best way."

"You two have something the other tributes don't have. Something they wish they had." Alwin and I both lean toward Odysseus, neither one of us knowing what we have that the others don't. "Both of you have good looks, well great looks I should say. Since you two will be separated you two can kind of bribe the others. Say that one of them thinks that one of you are attractive, use it to your advantage."

Alwin sits up straighter, his eyes are full of shock. "You want us to offer each other up as a prize?"

"One girl and one boy can win." He says with a smile on his lips. "Just tell them that you can set them up with the other one, that you will die willingly before they win."

"That won't work." Before I can stop myself the words are out of my mouth. "It we do that they'll kill us sooner, faster. Besides once they see that both of us are alive they'll all run after us."

"There is one thing that you are missing." Odysseus's smile is growing on his lips with each second that passes. "All of the others will go after each other to ensure you to be theirs or to keep you alive."

"You want us to flirt with them?" Alwin is staring at me now. "For us to use each other?"

"No, of course not. I would never have you two use each other." He sits back as a woman walks in with three glasses of water. She sits them down and walks out without a word. "To win you both have to do things that you don't like or wouldn't do under any other circumstances. But you must make the others think that they have a chance."

I stand up, feeling appalled and sick. "You want me to tell them that I'll die willingly at their hands if they help me stay alive until the final three? Are you insane?"

"Sweetheart, what do you think?" He laughs a little and that makes me feel even more angry. "Do you want to live or not?"

"Of course." Alwin and I say at the same time.

"Well…" He gets up and walks toward the door. Before he opens the door he turns back to us, just staring. "Just a little hint for both of you, just because you win the Games doesn't mean that you are really alive. This will take everything from you, your sanity, life…"

He leaves us sitting here across from each other. I shut my eyes not knowing what to do or what to think. The Capital has already one, what Odysseus has just said has confirmed it. Just because I win the Games doesn't mean that I'm alive, it takes away my life either way.

"I won't let you die." Alwin says to me. "Trust me Ace."

I try to smile but I can't. "You can't protect me when I'm with the girl tributes and when your with the guys tributes at the beginning."

He just stares at me, his eyes are hard and I see determination in them. I stare at him wondering what I would do to return to my family. What I can do….then it hits me I have to do what ever I can if I want to win. Lie, bargain and even use Alwin. These are things that I don't want to do, but I have to if I want to get home to my family.

**Thanks for reading! Please leave a review! =D **


	4. Chapter 4:Am I Ready To Play The Game?

**Hey everyone! I am finally fixing the chapters =D . Sorry that it took so long, but I don't have them saved to my laptop. Hope that these are easier to read! Thank you for everything and please leave a review!  
Enjoy!  
*~KelsNicole~***

The train ride is getting boring, we don't have to do anything for ourselves. My main hangout on the train is the sitting room, the walls are a pearly white, there are three couches and two chairs that are the same color as the walls, the chairs are in the corners of the room and the floor is a red velvet carpet. Alwin sits with me as Odysseus walks into the room with Abigail. They both sit down on one of the chairs.

"You two need to know who you are going against. They are re-showing the Mors Neutro in a few minutes." Odysseus looks at both of us and I see a small glint in his eye. Is he worried? No that can't be it, he can't care…he's lost everything that means anything to him. "The Districts who's numbers were drawn were one, three, five, six, eight, twelve and of course thirteen. All of them look pretty confident and only four of them were chosen by the Capital."

"Do you think we stand a chance?" My voice cracks and Alwin takes my hand in his. We have been discussing our own plan, one that is a more thought out one of Odysseus's. I don't like the plan and I know that Alwin doesn't, but what other choice do we have? "Odysseus? Do we?"

"Of course you stand a chance, but only if you don't mind killing others and going with the plan that I told you about. If you try to play the Game as the nice person who is just trying to not kill anyone or be killed, well…they will kill you faster." Odysseus sits back and the TV screen turns on. All of us look at the screen, just waiting for the other tributes to be known. "Be tricky and play it smart. If you think someone is going to kill you, kill them first. Don't be all nice and go I'm not going to hurt anyone until they attempt to kill me, that is as good as saying I'm going to die."

Helena Cavora, the official spokeswoman for the Capital and the Hunger Games appears on the TV screen. My eyes are attached to her hair, it is a bright pink and her eyes are purple. It takes everything in me to not laugh and to try and pay attention to what she is saying. The District numbers with tributes who are competing are at the bottom of the TV Screen. Four and two never compete, that's the Capital's doing for sure. They probably don't even have their numbers in the drawing.

"Hello to all of the Districts and the Capital! As all of you know the Mors Neutro has finished and our tributes have been chosen. This is an _exciting_ Mors Neutro this year!"

She smiles wide for the cameras as she talks. Her outfit is bright gold, a two piece suit. The more that I look at her outfit the more I think that she looks like a shiny wrapper. "Six of our fourteen tributes have volunteered to participate in the Hunger Games. Here is the footage from each District."

District One appears first a girl who looks about eighteen practically knocks everyone out of the way to make sure that she is seen. She has long black hair, her eyes are a icy cold blue. The male tribute looks like he is in his twenties and he looks cocky, he is thinner then I am. His hair is dark like the girls, but is cut short, his eyes are a brilliant green. Their escort's name is Eliza, she is thrilled when she announces that Victoria Embralled and Victor Hellington are District One's tributes. Cheers and screams follow the announcement and the two look smug up on stage.

District Three's number pops up and it fades quickly. Amanda is their escort, I remember her she's one of the only escorts who have been in the Games since the Games started up again. She says a few words and asks for any volunteers and to no ones surprise two girls volunteer. A girl with long sandy blonde hair and bright hazel eyes walks toward the stage. When she asks for male tribute volunteers a tall guy volunteers and walks up to the stage, he looks a lot like the girl tribute. Amanda looks ecstatic as she says, "our tributes, Megan and Mark Nail!" People scream and clap, but I feel numb. Siblings volunteering at the same time? That is insanity. A small caption flashes across the bottom of the screen reading, _Megan and Mark Nail just got married a week ago! Congratulations to the happy couple! District Three's tributes!_

District Five comes into view and you can feel the sadness coming from all of the people. All of them are holding each other and have their eyes closed. Katalina is the easiest escort to recognize with her signature gold hair and golden eyes. She gets right into it and asks for any volunteers, when not one girl volunteers she asks for any male tribute volunteers, yet again none. The disappointment is clear on her face as she looks down at the sheet of paper in her hands. In a bitter voice she says, "Sophia Loveingston and Garret Geller!" No one breaths, there are tears in many of the people's eyes as a small girl who looks about fifteen steps forward with short dark brown hair and un-forgiving brown eyes, she waits for the male tribute to join her. A young boy walks toward her and takes her hand, his dark hair is combed neatly and his brown eyes are wide in shock, maybe fear. Garret looks like is barely eight and it breaks my heart to watch him walk toward the stage. As Katalina announces the two of them the tributes for District Five an uproar begins, people pushing and yelling. Katalina almost falls off of the stage.

District Six cuts off the rest of District Fives footage, the people are different here most of them look detached. The name of the escort flashes on the screen, she's new. Alli Young has extremely long blonde hair that is curled perfectly and expressionless black eyes-yes black. She gets no volunteers, which doesn't seem to bother her and she holds up the small card in her left hand. Melina Abberton and Kody Lexington are the two who are chosen. But neither are shown, instead a girl with red hair and bright green eyes, and a boy who looks like her walk onto the stage. Alli stares at them and looks down at the card in her hand again, then asks for their names. Anna and Chase Solivin. She asks them how old they are and why they volunteered. They look at each other for a moment and the boy talks. He says, "we are fourteen and twins. Both of us know Melina and Kody, they shouldn't be in the Games. Our parents died a few months ago, the cause of their death was-"

It cuts to District Eight, something tells me that the District Six's parents death was Capital related. District Eight's escort is Erica, a young girl who is a few years older then I am. Her hair is a natural brown. She asks for volunteers but gets none. Walking to the edge of the stage she attempts to talk someone into volunteering. No luck for Erica of the Capital, she sighs and reads off of the card. Kayla Delico and Richard Hongton. Both of them have dark hair, its hard to tell if its brown or black and their eyes are blue, but different shades. His eyes are a dark and stormy blue, hers are a light sky blue. A few people clap and cheer as the two stand before them, you can't even hear Erica's voice over the crowd.

District Twelve appears and a drunken Haymitch is standing on the stage. He says a few horrible things about the Capital and almost falls off the stage. Haymitch's exact words are, "is there any idiot willing to volunteer to go into the Games? Female and male? Let me tell all of you its no picnic." A girl and a boy volunteer, Katherina Kelly and Aidan Corbin, they walk onto the stage separate. Katherina has an odd orange color hair and bright blue eyes. Aidan has short blonde hair and grey eyes. They wait for Haymitch to announce them but he just laughs and slurs, "here's some advice. Stay alive." The last image that you see is him laugh.

District Thirteen appears, my District, my home. Abigail is on the stage and talking, my sister is chosen I run up onto the stage and see the desperation in my eyes. As Mio's name is announced I see my face turn to hatred, shock, anger. In the corner of the screen I can see Alwin, his face is twisted in disgust. Then Alwin comes to the rescue and Mio runs back to my family. I watch as everyone person in my District turns their back to me and I hear a yell starting the chaos.

Helena is back on the screen, she is smiling brightly. Her head is slightly tilted to the side which makes it obvious that she is reading off of a screen. She starts to clap, which is way off cue.

"Wasn't that amazing? Personally I think that was the most exciting Mors Neutro yet!" She is practically jumping up and down in her seat. "All fourteen tributes are on their way to the Capital! This year for more fun we are having four guest spokes people from Districts Two and Four! That is all from the Capital! A little special note to the tributes. May the odd be _ever_ in your favor!"

I feel Alwin's hand squeeze mine gently. Everyone is quiet for a few minutes and I try to calm myself down. Some of the tributes look ready to kill, you can see it in their eyes. Odysseus stands up and stands in front of the TV.

"Don't count yourselves out yet." He says in a calm voice. "You two look better fed then the others, that is a huge advantage in-"

"They look like they are ready to kill!" I yell at him, something snapped inside of me while he was talking. Fear is coursing through me. "Do _I _look like I'm ready to kill? Odysseus, I don't know if I _can_ kill!"

"You have to kill. Acacia its kill or be killed, your choice." His voice is thick and hard. "All of those tributes are ready, you have to get into that mind frame. For someone who volunteered you don't seem to want to live."

"I do want to live!" Now I feel anger joining my fear. "The only reason that I volunteered is for my sister! My sister wasn't going to die in the Games if I could help it!"

"Then you have to fight." He says as he walks toward the door. Before he leaves he turns back to me and says, "either you want to fight or you don't. Its your choice."

When I lay down in bed I feel my heart beating faster. I do want to live, but why should I have to kill innocent people in order to live? How does this make any sense? Volunteering for Dula is something that I never will regret, but by doing that I signed up for death or to be the cause of someone else's death.

There's a light knock on my door and I get up to see who it is. Alwin is standing before me as I pull open the door. I smile a small smile as he walks into my room. He lays down on my bed and I lay down beside him. Now is when I let all of my tears out, when I tell him how I feel. Alwin just holds me tightly to him and comforts me. When I start to fall asleep I feel something on the top of my head, I think it was Alwin's lips. But I can't be sure.

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	5. Chapter 5:A Promise I Won't Break

I am woken up the next morning by Abigail, she's complaining because she was worried about Alwin since he wasn't in his room. She softens after a few minutes though as she stares at us, it must be a sight. Alwin is holding me in his arms and I am snuggled up to him.

Alwin leaves me to go shower and get dressed. I sit here and try to force myself to get out of bed. Five minutes later I am up and in the shower, the warm water is soothing. Now this is something that I could do all day, just stand in the shower oblivious to everything else. After my shower I walk back into my room to get dressed and see a light green top and pair of black pants have been set out for me. The shirt already has my Jabberjay pin on it.

Odysseus is sitting in the meeting room, waiting for us. Alwin is already there and he is sipping something warm. I sit down across from him. Trying not to look at him I look at Abigail.

"How much longer until we are in the Capital?" She looks up at me. "Is there much longer?""Only a day longer." I watch as she sips her tea. "Then you two will be busy with training and what not."

"We need to talk about a few things. Abigail can you give us a few minutes alone?" Odysseus looks at Abigail as he says this. She looks up shocked, but leaves the room and the look Odysseus is giving us right now makes me wish that she would have stayed. "I need to know what Game you two are going to play. After what Abigail told me the stunt that you two pulled-""Stunt?" Alwin asks looking up from the table. His eyes go from me to Odysseus. "What stunt?""You know what stunt. Both of you two do, don't even try it." He sets down his cup and looks from Alwin to me. "Alwin why were you in Acacia's room last night? Why were you holding her when Abigail found you?"

"Wait, you are seriously upset because we slept in the same room?" Alwin smirks a little. "You do realize that we've known each other forever.""Alwin let me talk to Acacia for a few minutes, alone." Odysseus is staring at me, his eyes narrowed. When Alwin suggest that he should stay Odysseus shoots him a look that has him out of the room in a matter of seconds. "Is there anything that you would like to tell me, Acacia?""No." I stare into his eyes, they are crystal clear right now. No worry, no anger. "Why? Is there something that you want to tell me?"

"Listen to me, this is for your survival as much as his. You can't do this." I just stare at him in shock. "The game that you are playing with him. It's got to end or else he will just get hurt."I stare at him confused. "What are you talking about? Alwin came to my room last night and he stayed. There's nothing more."

"This is a game. You are more like her then I thought." Odysseus sits back just staring at me. "She did the same thing and claimed that it wasn't a game to our mentor. Acacia, what you are doing is going to get you killed faster. Stick to my plan."

"Alwin and I have a plan." I stare at the table. "Who am I like?"

"Aphrodite." He sinks back into his chair. "Once I went back to District Thirteen her sister who was one of my best friends let it slip that Aphrodite only agreed to marry me to make it through the Games. I watched the footage from the Games and saw that she was vicious to the other girls and when we caught up she was extremely…friendly with the other guys."

"She lied and used you. Odysseus…" I look up at him and see pain in his eyes. There is a small flicker of anger in his eyes. "It's not like that with Alwin, he's my friend. Last night was just….I needed someone to talk to, to lean on."

"I'm tell you something Acacia and please listen to what I say." He leans forward. "That boy is not going to let you die. Don't do what Aphrodite did to me."

"I'm not going to do that to him." Now I feel anger rushing up inside of me. "Alwin is a friend to me, I would never hurt him."

"Another thing," Odysseus picks up his cup and takes a large gulp. "Don't do anything you might regret."

"I already know that I'm going to." This guy is insane! Of course I'm going to do things I'll regret in the Hunger Games, killing people…. "When I kill someone I'll regret it, more then anything else."

"Be careful with Alwin." He says and I stand up. I can't stay in this room with him alone any longer. "Acacia."

I turn back to him, my hand on the door knob. "What?""Send in Alwin." He winks at me as I pull open the door. "We need to have a little chat as well…"

Alwin is sitting on the floor out in the hallway, he jumps when I walk out. I sit down beside him and he hugs me. Odysseus walks out of the room and sees us, he shakes his head slowly. We both look up at him and I know that he disapproves of this. He points at Alwin and the room, then he walks back inside.

"Good luck." I say as he gets up. "Alwin…""Yeah?" He stops getting up and stares at me. "What is it, Ace?"

"I'm not going to hurt you." He stares at me obviously confused. "I promise, I'll never hurt you. You are my friend and I care about you-"

"Alwin!" Odysseus barks from inside the room cutting me off. With one small smile at me Alwin walks into the room. "Finally!"

I get up off of the floor and stare at the door thinking about what Odysseus could be saying to Alwin. The more that I think about it the more that I don't like it. Before I know it five minutes has passed and I'm still staring at the door, the words that I was going to say to Alwin still on my tongue.

Taking a deep breath I say, "more then my own life. I won't hurt you…"


	6. Chapter 6:A Good Feeling

**Hey everyone! I am finally fixing the chapters =D . Sorry that it took so long, but I don't have them saved to my laptop. Hope that these are easier to read! Thank you for everything and please leave a review!  
Enjoy!  
*~KelsNicole~***

The train is moving faster, or at least it feels like it is. It feels like its been forever since Alwin and I have been alone, not just a couple of hours. Odysseus is behind the whole thing, he doesn't want a repeat of last night. What is he going to do? Sit outside my bed room door all night?

"Ace." Alwin comes walking into my bed room. There is a smile on his lips as he shuts the door behind him. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." I narrow my eyes at him. Odysseus will be coming to check on me in a matter of minutes, there's no doubt in my mind about that. "How did you get in here?"

"I asked Abigail to distract Odysseus, which at first she seemed against. But she agreed to after a few minutes." He smiles widely and sits down on my bed. For the first time today there is a smile on my lips. "You see she kind of thinks that there is something going on between us. That's the only way that I could get her to help me."

"Thanks for coming." I hug him tightly. "After this morning I thought that I wouldn't see you until training."

"Odysseus was talking crazy to you too? I thought it was just me." He laughs lightly and brushes the hair out of my face. "For some reason he thinks that you are going to use me and hurt me. None of it made any sense."

"I won't hurt you." My eyes close and I hold onto him even tighter. "I promise, I never will hurt you."

"I won't hurt you either." He says to me. We lay back on the bed and I snuggle into him. The warmth of his body soothes me. "What are we going to do?"

For a minute I just lay here, not knowing what to say. "I don't know. For the first part of the Games we aren't going to be able to work together, which is when most people die. You don't think we should try Odysseus's idea, do you?"

"We might have to." He is rubbing my back and I allow myself to relax. "You were always my best friend. What happened to us?"

"I don't know. We just….grew up and grew apart." A part of me hates myself for allowing that to happen, but the other part knows that I had no control over it. "Alwin, I wish that we hadn't. This is horrible that we only have a few days together."

"You don't know that." Alwin's voice is soft and I can only hear him because he is whispering in my ear. His touch feels good, too good. The way that he is holding me makes me never want to move. "We could win together."

"I hope that we do." For a few minutes all that I hear is the beating of his heart, a sound that I know well. Or that I used to know. "Al, I've missed you."

"I thought that you forgot about that. You are the only person who's called me that." He is the same Al that I remember. The one that I used to play with, my best friend. "Maybe this is our second chance. This is a horrible way to get it though…"

"Not really a second chance." I say with a small laugh. "Why did you volunteer for Mio?"

"For you...and your family of course. But mostly for you." I look up at him, into his beautiful blue eyes. Even as a child I used to think that his eyes were the greatest thing I would ever see. "When we were kids…I still remember how Mio used to follow us around and how he would get so excited when you let him come with us. You were always a great sister, he looked up to you-he still does."

"Thank you." I say and my voice is barley a whisper. "You….you are really a great friend."

"It was not a problem." He is telling the truth, I know it. Something is stirring inside of me. My eyes travel to his lips, his soft lips. "You are beautiful….you've always been my Ace."

My breath catches and my heart is beating faster then it ever has before. Without thinking about it I lean toward him and our lips meet. I feel myself falling into him, my stomach is doing back flips. His lips are soft, as soft as they look. We break apart a few minutes later, both of us are breathless and I lay my head on his chest. Too many thoughts are running through my head right now and I can't think straight. There is only one thing that I know for sure, I want to kiss him again.

I look up at him and smile, he smiles back at me. There is a hunger in his eyes that I've never seen before, one that I know, one that I'm feeling right now. We start to lean in again, but my door opens and we both look up in surprise.

"Okay, parties over." Odysseus is standing in the doorway, the expression on his face is a mixture of anger, disbelief and confusion. "Alwin, I need to talk to you. Acacia, just stay put. I'll be back to talk to you in a minute."

"Odysseus." I whisper and he turns back to look at me. "Why are you trying to keep us apart?"

He stares at us for a moment, taking us in. "Because you could hurt each other, that would not help either of you in the Games."

"I'm not going to hurt him." There are tears in my eyes and Alwin holds me tightly to him. "I never would."

"I won't hurt her either." Alwin's voice has a protective tone in it. "We won't do that to each other."

"You might think that now, but you might." He turns away. "It might be something small, that you didn't think would hurt them. Alwin, please come with me."

I watch as Alwin gets up and follows Odysseus, leaving me alone. That is until Abigail walks in and sits down beside me. She hugs me to her as I cry, I don't know why I'm crying. Could it be because I want Alwin here with me instead of Abigail? Or maybe because I'm afraid that I'm going to hurt Alwin, without meaning to?

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	7. Chapter 7:Alwin and Ethan, Not Yet

**Disclaimer: I do not own the story, characters, etc., Suzanne Collins does.**

**Thank you to everyone who's reading and who has put up a review! I hope that all of you like it so far! Please review!**

**Thanks,**

**-*~KelsNicole~***

I'm laying in my bed thinking about everything. Nothing is going the way that I expected them to. Am I going to hurt Alwin? What about Ethan? All of this is just too confusing for me. Right now all that I want is for Alwin to be beside me, to talk to me. Maybe even for him to kiss me again….

My door opens and I look up, I start to feel annoyed when I see Odysseus is the one who is walking towards me. He sits down on my bed and just stares at me for a minute. The way that he's staring at me is as though he knows what I'm thinking, he knows that I feel guilty.

"Well? What do you want to say to me?" I say, my eyes are locked with his. "That I'm a horrible person? Go on a head, just get it over with."

"You are not a horrible person. Acacia, listen to me….look at me." His voice is soft for once and I feel the tears coming back, threatening to pour out. "This is what I was afraid of. Don't you understand that I know what is going on?"

"You don't understand anything." I say crossing my arms. "This is all just a huge game that the Capital has put me in, if one is not enough!"

"The Hunger Game will make you play other games, out of fear and just for survival." He pats my knee and I realize that now he's trying to comfort me. "Each game is deadly in its own way, this one is playing with not just your feelings."

"What?" I stare at him. "I don't understand…."

"You, Alwin and your other friend…Ethan? Yeah, that's his name." He see's the shock on my face and knows that he's right. "That's why I tried to keep you two apart. I can see that you don't know what you want, who you want. Just keep one thing in mind if you were to parade around with Alwin while you were in the Games be prepared, there will be no going back."

My face scrunches up in confusion. "No going back?"

"If you show your feelings for Alwin to the Capital and the Districts you have signed an invisible contract. You can't win the Games, go back to District Thirteen and want to be with Ethan." He clears his throat and let's everything sink in. Now I know that he wasn't trying to hurt me, he was trying to help me…and Alwin. "Ethan's a great kid, but would he have volunteered to take the place of your brother? Like Alwin did?"

"I don't…" My gaze drops and I realize that I don't know. But then I realize that I do know, he had the chance to but didn't. "No…"

"Are you mad at him for that?" Odysseus's voice is still soft, but I know what he's getting at. "Will you hold that against him?"

"No." I look down and realize that I'm making a mess out of everything. "What should I do?"

"You have to decide if you want to be with Alwin." He smiles at me, but only a small sad smile. "Alwin reminds me of myself, that's why I am trying to help him out."

"You don't think that he…" I clear my throat and know that I already know the answer, I just want to hear it. "Already loves me do you?"

"Yes, I know that he does. He's told me that he does." Odysseus keeps his eyes on me, while my eyes wander around the room. "Which is why I'm telling you to think about all of this, think before you act. Personally I think you should choose the kid, he's one of the best ones out there."

"I don't…" My head drops into my hands. "Know what to do."

"Just think about it." He says and stands up. "You don't have to make a choice right now."

Odysseus leaves me to think, but the only thing that I can think about is how Alwin volunteered to take Mio's place. Alwin and I haven't spoken for…about four or more years. While Ethan, my best friend couldn't volunteer? I know that it shouldn't count against him, but in some way it does. Mio is safe because of Alwin, if Alwin hadn't of volunteered my brother would be here. My brother would most likely die and Ethan would just stand back in District Thirteen, not doing anything for us.

Before I realize what I'm doing I leave my room and walk toward Alwin's room. I don't even knock I just walk inside and there he is. Alwin smiles when I shut the door and lay down on his bed. He takes me in his arms and I let myself relax.

"Why does everything have to change?" My words are muffled as I snuggle my face into his chest. "Isn't it enough that we might die for their amusement?"

"Obviously not." Alwin's voice is low and calm. He is brushing is fingers through my hair and I can't help but like it. Softly he kisses my cheek. "I know what you two talked about."

"What?" I look up at him. How can he possibly know? "What are you talking about?"

"You don't have to choose right now. Between Ethan and me, just take your time." He smiles at me and I feel even more confused. Shouldn't he be yelling at me? Shouldn't he be demanding for me to choose? Wait, that's something Ethan would do, not Alwin. "We don't have to do anything that you don't want to do. Odysseus made it clear that he thinks that we are going to be the next star crossed lovers."

I narrow my eyes. "Why?"

"He said he could see it happening." Alwin kisses the top of my head. Does he know how much more confused that makes me? Not only because it makes thinking harder, but because I like it? "Except that we won't have to show up the Capital. Both of us could win, we already know that."

"Alwin?" I sit up and stare into his eyes. "Would you hate me if I…would choose Ethan?"

"No, I wouldn't. I could never hate you, Ace." His eyes are wide and I see the fear in them. The fear that I'll choose Ethan and hurt him. "Do what makes you happy, that's all that I want. To me you'll always be mine."

"You are the best." I say and kiss him lightly on the lips. "Should I be doing that?"

"I don't mind it." He touches his lips to mine. "But about the whole choosing Ethan thing, it was just a question right?"

"Yeah, I haven't chosen." But in my mine there's a part of me screaming, 'CHOOSE ALWIN! CHOOSE HIM! HE IS YOURS!'. "Don't worry….right now you are the only person on my mind."

He smiles and I lay back down into his arms. For a few minutes we just kiss and he whispers things into my ear. Even though I'm terrified of the Games right now I feel safe, here with Alwin. Alwin is keeping me safe right now, he is keeping me sane. In the Games I won't always have him to help me, that is one of my biggest fears. But right now I can't think about that, tomorrow we will be in the Capital….that is when everything will come up. The fear, the realness of it all, the hatred and after that death.


	8. Chapter 8:A New Friend?

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games, ideas, etc., Suzanne Collins does.**

**Thank you to everyone who's reading my story and thank you to everyone who's been reviewing/commenting! Your reviews mean a lot to me and I love to read them. Please review after you read this chapter!**

**Thanks and enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

The train is coming to a stop and I'm dreading it. Once the train stops it means that we are in the hands of our stylist. I shut my eyes trying not to think of the horrible things they are going to do to me, I want to look like me. Alwin has my hand in his and he squeezes my hand when the train comes to a stop.

Odysseus walks over to us and glares at our hands. We both shut our eyes, or at least I do, and walk off the train behind him. I feel like I'm at a circus, more like I'm an animal in the circus. Little kids point at us and start to jump up and down, odd thing is that I can't find it in myself to hate the kids, they were brought up to think that the Hunger Games is a fun sport to watch on TV. Looking at them makes me feel bad for them, we know what it really means and they don't.

"Remember do what they tell you to." Odysseus says looking straight forward. "No questions, no complaints…"

"Acacia Yarrow!" I hear a girly voice squeal and then I see her. Bright yellow hair, when I say yellow I mean YELLOW and big green eyes. "I'm Daisy."

"I can tell." Before I can stop myself the words are out of my mouth, but she doesn't seem offended. "Who are you?"

"I'm part of your prep team!" She says and looks at the crowd, who are waving at us. Not to my surprise she waves back. "Gooooo District Thirteen!"

The screaming continues as we enter a tall building, Daisy takes my hand in hers and when she sees Alwin staring at me she smiles at him. A young woman walks up to Alwin and takes his hand, she looks just like Daisy except for the hair. Her hair is a sky blue.

"Don't worry." Daisy says to me and pats my hand. "You are both in good hands and you'll see each other soon."

I am told to put on this white silky rob and I follow her directions as instructed to by Odysseus. She takes me into a big room with blue walls and the carpet is soft, the color is a beautiful white. The carpet reminds me of snow, the first snow fall of the year. Looking up I see three people standing behind a long, comfortable white chair. Daisy tells me to sit down and they start working.

"I'm Val." A tall woman says, her hair is a bubble gum pink with light cotton candy blue strips in it. "You are going to look AMAZING!"

"She will once I get this hair under control." The shortest of all of them say, did I mention that it's a guy? He's got dark blue hair to his shoulders in layers. His eyes are a mixture of blue and green. "I'm Lev."

"And I'm….Sammy." The girl who is the tallest and prettiest says. Her hair is a natural blonde and her eyes are a striking blue. "Don't worry, we'll take care of you. Relax those beautiful eyes!"

The odd thing is that I don't feel weird around them, they actually amuse me a little and put me at ease. All of them are jabbering on and on about my hair and eyes. One of them suggest dying my hair, but Sammy comes to my rescue.

"She doesn't need her hair dyed." Her voice is more normal then the others. "Besides Cameron said not to change her."

"Should we give her a scrub down?" Daisy asks Sammy. "Do you think that Cameron would suggest it?"

"Yes." Sammy says and smiles at me. "Follow me."

They help me into a huge bathtub and tell me to just relax. For what seems like forever they leave me in the tub, alone. Laying here I think about how it seems like Sammy is the boss, which is weird to me. Daisy seems more experienced and more knowledgeable.

Daisy comes in and gets me out and I'm back in the chair. I watch as they wax me and I don't suggest getting a wax ever, under any circumstances. The pain is terrible and I wish that I didn't have to keep my mouth shut over it. Sammy smiles as she paints my nails a bright pink…um, yuck! I hate pink!

"We'll see you later on." Sammy says and leads the others toward the door leading out of the room. "Cameron will be in soon."

I sit here feeling nervous, what if Cameron finds something that he wants to change? Like my hair color or anything that they can change by sugary? My nerves are on edge and when the door opens I feel like I'm going to get sick. A guy a few years old than me maybe about…nineteen walks in, he has normal blonde hair in little spikes and his eyes are a brilliant blue.

"Acacia." He says with a big smile. "Hello, I am Cameron, your stylist."

Before I can stop myself or get a grip on my stomach I puke. Cameron walks farther into the room and leads me over to another door, one that leads to a large sitting room with a table for two, it's a rather large table though. He gestures for me to sit down and sits down himself.

"Are you feeling okay?" His voice actually sounds as though he is concerned. "I've never had that reaction before…"

"It wasn't you, really it wasn't." I say looking down at the table. "My stomach….I'm just, nervous."

"I understand." He says with a comforting smile. "Okay, I know that you think that I don't but I do. I watch the Games, but I don't know what its like to be in them."

"What are you going to do with me?" I ask him in a low voice. "Please tell me that its nothing…revealing."

"No, no, I don't go for revealing clothing. You and I are more alike then you think, Acacia." He says and presses a button, a woman walks in pushing a small cart. She gives me a glass of water and leaves the room. But she leaves the cart. "They did good, didn't change you at all. I'll have to tell Sammy to remember all of this, it's a good make-over."

I sit up straight and take a sip of my water. "Who is Sammy to you?"

"Sammy." He smiles brightly. "Samantha is my twin sister. Our younger sister Clove is your friend or fellow tribute of District Thirteen's stylist."

He notices how I look down and all that he does is stare at me. Part of me feels like asking to see Alwin right now, that's all that I've wanted since we were torn apart but I know that my request will be denied. Cameron gets up and walks over to me, he takes my hand and makes me stand in the center of the room.

"Let's see…." He circles me three times. "You are beautiful, in the natural way of course…let's see."

"Are you planning on a lot of make-up?" I've seen girls with make-up in the Games before, they look more like animals then pretty. "Cameron?"

"A little, not too much." He walks over to me. "Don't worry, you are my friend or you will be. You can trust me. I'm not going to do anything that will hurt you or anything."

We sit back down and he hands me a small bowl with soup in it. He tells me to eat it slowly and I do. It taste good, is it….

Cameron smiles at me as I ponder over what kind of soup I'm eating. "So what's going on between you and Alwin?"


	9. Chapter 9:A Long White Dress

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything with The Hunger Games.**

**Please read and review. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and thank you for reading!**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~* **

I stare at Cameron, my mouth is still dangling open. He just sits across from me and keeps that smile plastered onto his lips. What does his question mean? Nothing is going on between Alwin and me, that's what I want to say. I look down knowing that I shouldn't lie to Cameron.

"That's if you don't mind me asking." He says and takes a sip of his water. "If you don't want to talk about it I understand."

"No, it's…fine. Really it is." I look up from the table into Cameron's brilliant blue eyes and I know that I can trust him. That's the first time this has ever happened, I'm usually more guarded. "Alwin and I….go way back. I don't know what's going on between us."

"You like him though." He says it so confidently that my eyes widen. "It's obvious, with the both of you."

"Obvious?" He nods and gets up. While he looks through the food on the cart I think about what he just said. "How?"

"Acacia, trust me we know what love looks like. You two are in love." My mouth drops open, who said anything about love? "Oh, don't worry, you would have realized it soon anyways. Trust me its love."

"Why do you think that?" I take a bite of a cracker that he just handed to me. "You haven't seen us together or anything. That's a pretty big assumption to make about two people."

"There _might_ be another boy that you think that you _might_ have feelings for. But there is something between you and Alwin." He takes a bite out of his cracker and thinks for a moment. No one has ever been so honest with me before. "You know that there's something about Alwin that drags you toward him and its not just the fact that he volunteered for Abudemio. But that action brought him back to you and you know that he did that just for you."

I look back up at him, there is something inside of me that knows that he's right, but I don't want to tell him that. Not right now at least. "Cameron…right now I can't just say I love Alwin. Once in the Games then it would be a huge factor, people would expect us to be together forever."

He leans in toward me. "Is there something wrong with being with Alwin forever? You don't think that it'll work?"

"No, its not that." I feel bad for thinking all of this, but it's the truth. A part of me does love Alwin and want me to be with him. "I want it to be _my_ choice, not the Capitals."

"That's understandable." He stares at me for a moment and then smiles. "You know what? You remind me of someone."

"Who?" I know that I shouldn't be as curious as I am, but I can't help it. "A horrible teenage girl?"

"No." His smile widens. "One of my family members where a stylist in the Games, his name was Cinna."

My eyes widen in shock. "You don't mean the Girl on Fire Cinna do you?"

"The very." He sits there and stares at me. For a moment I am confused, is he comparing me to Cinna? "No, I'm not talking about Cinna."

"Then who are you talking about?" I stare at him and he just continues to smile. "He's the only person that you named."

"The Girl on Fire." He says clearly amused. "She didn't want to have everything taken away from her either. But you seem to know more of what you want."

"Do I?"

"If you don't you will soon." He sits back and takes another sip of water. "Now…we have to talk about what you will be wearing for the opening ceremonies."

My eyes narrow. "What exactly is it?"

"Nothing too bad." He smiles and points to an open door. "Go in there and Sammy will help you get into your outfit."

I raise my eyebrows, I'll need help getting dressed? "You mean that I won't be able to put it on without her help?"

"Exactly." He smiles at me. "Go on ahead, we have to meet Alwin soon."

I walk into the room unsure of what is about to happen and then I see her. Sammy is standing there smiling holding onto a white flowy dress. The dress looks a little like rope, but it has a beautiful glow to it. Silently I walk over to her and take off my robe. Carefully Sammy puts the dress over my head and it falls to my feet and I feel a slight breeze on my bare arms. Turning I look at myself in the mirror, I see myself, but not really myself. The dress is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

"Will Alwin be wearing something like this?" I ask turning to Sammy. "Something…of the sort?"

"Oh, of course!" There is a knowing smile on her lips. "You'll see shortly."

We walk out into the room where the chariots are. I see Alwin watching me walk toward him, his eyes widen as he watches me approach him. He stands still for a moment then pulls me to him and hugs me. The expression on his face as he takes me in doesn't help Carmon's idea about us and I notice that I'm taking him in too.

"Get up there, both of you." Carmon says smiling. He knows what is going on and he is enjoying it all. "We need to get you both ready, which won't take that long."

"Here." A young girl with long straight blonde hair rushes up to Cameron. She has the same brilliant blue eyes. "They are going to look fantastic!"

"Of course they will, Clove." He says as Alwin and me get up onto our chariot, which is a bomb on top of a long golden piece of wood. "Now you both will have to hold onto each other. You two don't have a problem being…close do you?"

"No." We both say at the same time. Staring at him I know that we will be closer then any of the other tributes. "Why?"

But Cameron doesn't answer me, instead he puts a head piece on the both of us-I mean ONE head piece. It looked like a large wick and I fear what he's going to do with it. There's not enough time for me to think about it as I watch him pull out a match, my eyes grow wide in fear.

Clove walks up behind Cameron while Cameron says, "neither of you are afraid of a little fire, are you?"


	10. Chapter 10:A Chariot With Fusion

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything dealing with The Hunger Games.**

**Thank you for reading! Please review after you read, I love to see what you think! **

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

I look ahead of me, too afraid of what Cameron is going to do. Looking ahead I watch the District One tributes chariot start to move, I don't really see anyone else around me. Fear has frozen me, a little fire? These people are crazy! Of course I'm afraid of a little fire, fire can burn me!

"Just relax." Cameron says in a calm voice. He walks in front of the chariot. "Acacia, calm down."

"Great advice. Got anymore?" My teeth are clenched and I feel Alwin put his arm around me, around my waist. I put mine around him. Cameron stops me and puts a clear lacy fabric on both of my arms, they attach to the sleeves on my dress. Staring at my right arm I see that its got the same design of the dress, its just a little more shimmery. "Cameron, do you have to do this?"

"Trust me." He says and gets on the chariot, behind us I feel a little flame ignite. A small crackle and pop, he jumps off the back. "You too look great!"

Our chariot starts to move and we grab onto each other. My eyes are open in fear and I look over at Alwin, his eyes are on me. Now I understand all of this, we are the fusion in the bomb, that is why we are connected. Together we can make an explosion. Alwin's blue eyes are even more dazzling in the flickering light from the flame. As our chariot leaves the garage, we both look forward. All eyes turn to us as smoke of different colors flows behind us, little flashes of light surrounds us.

People are too dazzled to say anything, but all eyes are on us. We must look powerful together, something that the Capital doesn't want to see. I wonder if Odysseus doesn't like our chariot, after all we have to be….close and our arms are around each other. Silently keeping my eyes forward I take his free hand in mine and we both stay as still as possible.

I can't feel the heat by the time we get to the Training Center, where we will train and stay until the Games begin. Our chariot stops for a minute in front of the entrance for our chariot to go through, everyone just stares. Then it happens, our wick runs out on our head piece and when it does it sends smoke and colors up into the night sky. Everyone begins to clap and cheer. We start to move again and the doors close behind us, the cheering doesn't stop.

"Well done!" Cameron yells as he jumps onto our chariot. He takes off our head piece and hands it to Clove. "You two did wonderful!"

"Nice job." Odysseus says and he walks toward Haymitch who is spluttering out words at his tributes. "Haymitch!"

"You two can come down now." Clove's voice rings out, the excitement is clear in her voice. I look around us and see that we are getting many glares, we clearly outshined everyone. "Come on…"

Alwin and me lock eyes as we take our release each other, my muscles are sore and I don't want to let go of him. There is a spark in his eyes that wasn't there before, I feel as though my legs are jello and not just from standing here so long. He gets off of the chariot first and holds up his hands to help me down. Once he sets me on the ground some how we end up in each other's arms again and I don't want to be let go.

"Okay, okay." Odysseus walks over to us, he looks at us for a moment then shrugs. "Let's go eat."

"They outshined you!" Is all that we can hear from Haymitch as we leave the room. "They were a bomb! They blew you two up!"

On the elevator Alwin and I can't keep our eyes off of each other, there is something going on and I don't know what. We get off on the thirteenth floor, most places skip over thirteen, but not the Capital. Inside we follow Odysseus who keeps making comments like, "you have all day to look around, keep walking," and so on. He stops and walks over to a large table and takes a seat.

Looking around the room I am amazed. The walls are a crystal like white and the floor is a soft looking white cloud carpet. Alwin leads me over to the table and pulls a chair over to sit next to me, this does not please Odysseus. By this point I don't care anymore, if I'm going to go and die in a few days let me do what I want these last few days.

"Training starts tomorrow." Odysseus says and he looks over at Abigail. "You two should stick together, since….it seemed to work today."

"You mean that we can actually say hi to each other?" I say in a sarcastically happy voice. "Odysseus! This must be some sort of joke!"

"It's not like I can keep you two away from each other anyways, some how you two find a way to break my rules. But be careful, if your little act today didn't spark rumors with the media I'll be surprised." He sits back and folds his hands on the table. A little girl walks into the room pushing a cart, silently she puts a bowl of soup in front of each of us. "You two better learn how to fight and about survival during the training periods. Learn what is edible in plants and what is deadly. Both of you better learn how to use a knife and other weapons or you are both as good as dead."

"I know how to use a knife." Alwin says with a sly smile. "You didn't expect that did you, Odysseus?"

Odysseus sits back with a small smile on his face, a cocky smile. "Show me then, because last thing that I knew you were a good little boy."

With a smile on his face Alwin lets go of me and stands up, with a knife in hand and aims it toward the wall. Everyone watches in silence as he lets go of the knife and it lodges into the wall, right in the middle of the wall. Alwin sits back down and I stare at him in amazement and shock.

"Well, well…" Odysseus stares at Alwin looking proud and pleased. "Looks like we have ourselves a knife expert!"

"I can show you how to." Alwin offers and there is a smile on his lips. "Tomorrow during training?"

I smile back at him, liking the sound of it. "That would be great."

The promises of him showing me how to do anything means that we are going to be touching and I like the sound of it. Even though I know that I should be more careful I can't help myself but to agree with it and to be excited about it.

**Please review! **


	11. Chapter 11:A Knife Lesson With Alwin

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to The Hunger Games**

**Thank you to everyone for reading and a huge THANK YOU to everyone who's reviewed! Your reviews mean a lot to me!**

**Thank you to all of you!**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

I am woken up by Abigail walking into my room, now she's used to finding Alwin in my room. She tells us that we have about forty-five minutes until training begins and that we better start getting ready. Alwin and I only separate for twenty minutes for showers and to get dressed. Once we are both done we walk into the dinning room together, hand in hand.

"Well, well is that the two love birds? It has to be them or they have a death wish." Odysseus says and I roll my eyes. Does he really think that I'm capable of hurting Alwin? Right now I am just trying to keep my sanity and by the time that we are in the Games I will have figured out what I want. "Have a seat both of you. Would you two like to share a chair?"

"No." I say sitting down. "A bed will do so that we can both be comfortable and close at the same time."

"Really cute. Now, are you two ready to start training?" Odysseus asks and stares at both of us. He is tense right now, more tense then usual. "Remember try to get the other tributes to an agreement, that way you two will have a better chance of catching up at the cornucopia. If it comes down to it you must decide if you'd rather kill or be killed, because some of them won't think twice about it."

"Do you think we're ready?" Alwin asks in a calm voice. "Can we kill people just to live?"

"I think you two can. Just remember one thing, it does take a part of you away when you kill." Odysseus takes a bite out of his pancake. We watch him for a moment, he looks up at us and shrugs. "You have to get into that mind frame, to survive you have to do things that you wouldn't normally do. If you can't, well…then you might as well put a spear through your own heart."

The idea of putting a spear through my heart-or anyone's heart is unimaginable for me. I sit here as pancakes, fruit, orange juice, coffee and a muffin are put in front of me. Slowly I eat and I begin to think about everything. The games that I must play to survive, the thought about losing Alwin. If Alwin dies, I might as well be dead along with him. My eyes glance a look at Odysseus and I see that he is watching me, trying to see what I'm thinking. His eyebrows are raised, he obviously knows a part of what I'm thinking. Alwin squeezes my hand and I look at him.

"Everything will be okay." Alwin whispers to me, with a small smile. "You'll see, Ace. You'll see."

Abigail walks us to the elevator ten minutes before we have to be to training. She is talking quickly and telling us what she thinks we should do. I laugh a little when she says that she personally thinks that our love for each other will help us win the Hunger Games. Am I really in love with him? How am I supposed to know? I've never felt this way before and all that I know is that he is more important to me then Ethan…did I just really say that?

"Okay here you two are, remember stay close!" Abigail shocks me and gives both of us a hug. "I have been doing this for a few years now and…you two are my favorite tributes."

She walks away and I just stare after her, I never thought the people of the Capital had feelings or good thoughts. Alwin takes my hand and leads me into the training room. We are the first ones there, a tall man is standing in the center of the room waiting for everyone to show up. He smiles politely at us and we stand in front of him.

After a few minutes everyone is standing on either side of us and staring at each other, sizing everyone up. I stare at the girl from District One and she sneers at me, now this girl could be a problem…

"Welcome all of you! You are the wonderful tributes for the 90th Hunger Games!" He looks more thrilled then most of the Game Makers. "I am Hector Zoole and I am here to assist you in any way during your training period. Please remember to be cautious and not attempt to harm any of the other tributes. We don't want a repeat of last year…"

What happened last year was horrible and ended in the death of the female tribute from District Fiver. Last year a girl named Zula Morgenstern was killed during training, she was the tribute from District Five. The girl who killed her was from District One, Megan Longston. Most of the other tributes feared Megan because of how quickly she killed Zula with a knife, they couldn't get it out of Zula's back. Another female tribute was chosen for District Five, someone related to Zula…..Megan killed the second female tribute from District Five, Zula's younger sister Melody. One of the District One tributes won, Megan.

I look at Alwin who is staring at the edible plants table, taking his hand I lead him over to the table. He smiles at me as the instructor watches us take a quiz to see how much we know about the plants. Turns out that I know more then I thought I did, my mom is a healer so I know most of the plants. We stay at the table until both of us reach the maximum that we can for the plants.

"What would you like to do now?" He asks as we walk away from the table. "That was my choice, now you get to choose."

"You know I remember something that you told me…." I smile at him, a mischievous smile. "Didn't you promise to teach me how to throw a knife?"

Alwin smiles at me, his smile mirrors mine. "Yes, yes I did. How could I have forgotten? Right this way, Ace…"

We walk over to the table focusing on knife using. The instructor tries to tell Alwin a few things about using a knife, he was extremely arrogant and Alwin just picked up a knife and threw it at a dummy a few feet away and lodged it right in the dummy's throat. That shut the instructor up.

"Want me to teach you?" Alwin turns to me and holds a knife out to me. I nod, anxiously. "Come here. Okay, take the knife."

Alwin puts one hand around my waist, holding me to him and the other is on the wrist of my hand that is holding the knife. He moves my hand and shows me where to release it. Then he takes the knife and shows me what to do. I smile and say slyly that I don't remember where he told me to release it and he gladly takes me into his arms again. He keeps his hands on me as I throw the knife for the first time, I hit the dummy in the stomach. I jump up and down and hug Alwin. Before I know it we kissed and now I know that I'm screwed, I love him….and love is one thing that you shouldn't mix with a game as deadly as this.

**Thank you for reading and ****please**** review! As a thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing I will be putting up two chapters tomorrow!**

**Thank you!**

***~KelsNicole~***


	12. Chapter 12:A Nightmare, I Remember

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games or anything Hunger Games related.**

**Here's the first chapter that I will upload today as promised yesterday. I hope that you all enjoy! Please leave a review and tell me what you think, it will help me fix it if something is confusing or just not good =D. Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing!**

***~KelsNicole~***

We are sitting in the lunch room, a small break from training. Everyone saw it, the Game Makers, the tributes, EVERYONE. I sit next to Alwin, who is as quiet as I am. Neither of us know what to do or say. I know now that if we win the Games that we will have to be together forever. Odysseus was right and I'm sure that he will hear about this. All of this will be my fault though, I know that in his eyes that it will be.

"Are you okay?" Alwin's voice is low and I know that no one can hear us. "Ace? Is there something that I can do-or get you?"

"No, nothing. Yeah…I'm fine." I say and look over at him. A part of me knows that I love him, but is it enough? Will my love for him help me some how win the Games? "All of this is just…hard to process. Now everyone knows and that won't allow us to set our plan into motion."

"We can think of a new plan, one that Odysseus knows nothing about. Both of us can still live and see our families again." As I stare at him I know that I want to live, just to be with him. My family would be better off without me, I've just been putting them in danger. "Don't worry, we will think of something. I won't let you die, I promise you that Ace. You are not going to die."

I look at him and smile a small sad smile. "You can't promise me that. Once we are in the Games everything will be too unpredictable. Maybe we should try to make an agreement between all of the tributes about getting to the cornucopia alive. Do you think….do you think that we could turn them against one another?"

"What? You want to play a game before the Games have even started?" He raises his eyebrows, but I see that he is thinking about what I've just suggested. Under the table he squeezes my hand. "I think that we could, but we'd have to be careful. We don't want it to backfire on us."

"I know…" That is all that I say, because I know that this plan could kill us both.

We go back into training and I learn how to make a snare, to use a bow and arrow (which I'm kind of good at, but still need a lot of practice), a sword and so on. Training comes to an end and we all walk out of the room. Alwin and I are the only two who are walking with the other tribute from our District, everyone else is walking far apart from everyone. It seems that Alwin and I are the only two who are trying to keep both of us alive. This could be more tricky then I thought…

Abigail is waiting at the elevator and stares at us with an excited expression on her face. Once in the elevator we shoot up to the thirteenth floor and she leads us to the sitting room where Odysseus is waiting. He glares at me and I know that he must have heard about what happened in training. Does he only hate me because I remind him of Aphrodite?

"Okay, have a seat. We need to talk about strategy, since I am obviously out of the loop." He watches as we sit down on a couch together, his eyes are hard and I see that he is giving up all hope that he will ever break us apart. "I give up, you two can do the happy couple from District Thirteen if you want to. But listen to me, you two have to have a good plan and have to convince the audience that you two are worth saving."

"Odysseus?" I say his name and feel my stomach twirling, right now I can't think. "Can we talk about a plan later?"He narrows his eyes at me. "Why? Are you not feeling good?"

"No, I just need to lay down for a little while." I stand up and Alwin is up beside me. Wordlessly I shake my head. "You stay and talk to him about a plan."

Before either of them can stop me I walk into my room and close the door. I lay down on my bed and as soon as my eyes are shut I feel better. Everything will be okay, everything will be okay, is all that I can think of telling myself. My body starts to relax as I drift off to sleep.

It is chilly outside, I am walking with my father. He looks down at me smiling and I smile up at him as we carry the pumpkins home. We just had enough money to buy three pumpkins, none of us care about sharing just us having pumpkins is good enough for us. My dad stops and stares at a figure, he pushes me behind him and puts the two pumpkins he was carrying down.

"Dad?" I ask not really knowing what's going on. "What's going on? Who's that person?"

"Acia, just stay behind me. Don't move or say a thing." My dad stands tall in front of me and I worry about him, what happens if they hurt him? "What do you want? Just get on with this so we can get home."

"As you know the Hunger Games are starting up again, well we need a few children to have try the Games before they start. We are trying different age groups." A husky male voice grunts and I don't understand what he's saying at all. "You should be proud! Acacia Lily Yarrow is one of the children chosen to do the trial version of the new and improved Hunger Games!"

"No, you will not take her." My dad's voice is full of anger. I can see him shaking and it scares me. "Go away now, if you know what's good for you.""I have instructions to leave with the girl." The guy says in a demanding voice. "Give me the girl or you will pay."

My dad just stands in front of me for a moment and for some reason I am afraid. I have no idea what's going on, but I don't like it. "Have it your way then…."

I wake up screaming and my bedroom door shoots open, its Alwin. Odysseus and Abigail walk in behind him, all of them are staring at me. Tears are rushing down my face as I think about the nightmare I've just had. My dad stood up against the Capital, he wouldn't let them take me and they took him a few days later. He did pay for not giving them what they wanted and now I will pay with my life for not going in the first time. This is my Hunger Games, it will end in my death.

**Thank you for reading and please review! **


	13. Chapter 13:A Hunger For Revenge

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games or anything related to The Hunger Games.**

**Here is the second chapter that I promised to upload today. I hope that all of you like it and thank you for reading and thank you to all of you who have reviewed!**

**Enjoy and Thank you to all of you! Please review!**

***~KelsNicole~***

I sleep in Alwin's arms that night, trying not to think about my dad and the nightmare. How could I have forgotten? My dad gave up everything to save me and he paid for it with his life. The tears start to pour out of my eyes again and an anger that I've never known boils up inside of me. Remembering makes me want to win just so that I can go to the Capital and get my revenge. It is deadly, but the revenge is making me not think straight.

"Ace…." Alwin kisses the top of my head and rubs my back. Every time that I start to cry he holds me tighter and tells me that everything will be okay. I haven't told him why I am crying, when I try to tell him I start to cry even harder. "Are you okay?"

"No. Alwin….I'm so sorry, I know that you probably don't want to lay here and watch me cry." There's a part of me that thinks that I should tell him to go, that I'll be fine…but the other part of me is clinging to him. I need him to be here with me, without him I don't know what I would do. "Okay, I think that I can tell you about it now. At least…I can try. It's about my dad."

Alwin kisses the top of my head and squeezes my hand. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I can wait and you can tell me about it when you are ready, don't upset yourself again."

"Alwin, I need to talk about it or else I'm going to explode. The nightmare made me remember what my dad rebelled against. He didn't let them take me…" Tears threaten to fall, but I stop them. My eyes sting from the tears as I look up at Alwin, he looks confused. "You remember when they took some of us to compete in the trial of the Hunger Games? They wanted me, but my dad didn't let them take me. He was tortured for me…god. How could I have forgotten?"

"It isn't your fault that you forgot, you probably blocked it out-your mind did." He holds me tighter to him and I feel a tear escape. One of Alwin's fingers wipes it away and it feels as though more tears are going to escape. "He did that for you, so that you could live. Use it to win, use the anger that it gives you."

I look up at him and see the anger in his eyes. "The Peace Keeper left me alone and I don't even know why. A part of me thinks that my dad killed him or that my dad gave himself in so that they wouldn't touch me. Some how even though my fathers sacrifice saved me, it didn't. Now I'm going to die and the sacrifice from him was for nothing, so what's the point if I was going to die anyways?"

"Don't say that. Ace, you are going to live." Alwin's voice is fierce and fiery. "You will get your revenge on them for it. Don't worry, I will make sure of it."

I fall asleep in his arms and wake up with him playing with my hair. He smiles lightly and kisses me once. My eyes shut again and I try to get more sleep, but its useless. A few minutes later I sit up and decide that I will lock the anger away, bottle it up until the Games….until I am in the Capital and I can find the person responsible for my father's death. President Walter Sliperington, just President Sliperington to most people. He will pay for what happened to my father, all that I have to do is win the Games….

"Are you okay?" Alwin's arm wraps around me and I snuggle into him. "Want me to get something for you?"

I smile at him, relaxing a bit, I will get my revenge…in time. "No, I'm fine. We should start getting ready though. Odysseus will want to get started….oh no! Interviews are two days away!""Don't worry, you'll be fine. Here, take this stuff and go take a shower." Alwin gets up and hands me some clothes. Our hands touch and my hands tingle. "Just relax. We'll talk to Odysseus about what we should say and we will both do good."

I nod and not thinking twice about it, I get onto my knees on my bed and kiss Alwin. His arms wrap around me and I pull him down toward the bed and he ends up on top of me. We are breathless and laying on the bed a few minutes later, I know that I love him but I better get control on my impulses.

We walk into a room where Odysseus is sitting and smiling at us. He laughs a little when he sees that we are holding hands, I think he's finally lost his mind. An avox walks in and puts three mugs of hot chocolate on the table for us, she leaves without a single glance at any of us.

"What do you think is so funny?" I ask as we sit down across from Odysseus. "Something about us funny now?"

"Nope, but you two better get prepared for your interviews. Let's see….options for you two." He looks at the wall for a second and composes himself. We just stare at him waiting. "First off I need to talk to Acacia alone for a moment. Alwin, don't worry you can come right back in…"

Alwin walks out of the room and I look at Odysseus, he doesn't have the same expression on his face that he normally does. Now he looks at me as though I am not a danger to everyone that I come in contact with and I'm trying to decide why. He takes his mug and takes a long slow sip.

I fold my arms across my chest. "What did you want to talk to me about? Let me guess, you want to make sure that I don't say how much I care about Alwin so that I won't hurt him?"

"No, I've given up on that. One way or another one of you will end up hurt." He waves his hand in the air as if dismissing the idea. I just continue to stare at him. "What I need to know is if you are going to do the whole we-are-in-love thing? Because if you are then both of you have a small plan forming."

I sit up straighter. "What are you talking about? Has Alwin already chosen what he's doing? Why hasn't anyone told me about anything?"

"He wants to…" Odysseus looks down uncomfortable. "Keep it a secret so that you won't know what's going to happen either."

"What?" My eyes narrow at him. "Why?"

"Because he seems to think that it will be better if you find out when everyone else does." He smiles a small smile. "He is going to make sure that this is an interview no one forgets."

**Thank you for reading and please review! **


	14. Chapter 14:An Avox Tells Me A Secret

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games or anything related to it.**

**Please review when you finish reading!**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~* **

"No, no, no. Acacia, you have to show more emotion!" Odysseus is shaking his head and looking at the floor as though I've done the worst thing possible. "We've been through this! You are going to be the girl who has done everything to save her sister and got reunited with a friend that she's missed deeply. Try it again…."

"Wait, I am doing the I'm in love with Alwin, thing? I thought you were against that?" He just shakes his head at me. "I don't get what you want from me. First you tell me to stay away from him and now you want me to parade him around?"

"That was your choice and I didn't say that you loved him." Odysseus is smiling as I stand before him. "What I said was that he is a friend that you missed deeply and you two got reunited at a horrible time. Try it again, come on."

"Okay…" I sit back down and try to put on the best smile I can. "Start the questions, but don't smile in that way again."

"Okay, we'll start with something easy." Odysseus flips through the index cards and smiles when he gets to one. "Now, you volunteered for a younger sister of yours. Why did you do that?"

"Because…I love her and her life means more to me then my own. She's too young and deserves a chance to live." I take a deep breath and keep on smiling. Odysseus just stares at me, obviously hoping that there's more. "When I think about little Dula I see someone that I would do anything to protect, even if it means my death. For any of my siblings I would give my life, I love them all more then anything. Mio…."

Odysseus just stares at me for a moment and ignores the questions on the cards in his hands. "Yes, Mio. How do you feel that someone that you haven't talked to for years volunteered to take his place? Why do you think Alwin took his place?"

"Alwin knows how much I care about my family, he knows my family. Its like nothing has changed between us, yet something has. He is a part of my family and he is helping me protect them." I don't know why but I just want to keep talking about Alwin, about how great he is and how thankful I am for him. "Everyone knows that Alwin didn't have to volunteer to be a tribute and take Mio's place, but he did. For that I will always be thankful and it showed me that we still have something between us. Something strong…."

We sit here in silence, the ending was too revealing for me…but I couldn't stop it from slipping out. Odysseus's expression is hard to read and I don't know if he liked it or hated it. I sit here and stare at the ground, my face is turning bright red. This is showing that I have no control over what comes out of my mouth and that I can't stop myself. What if I say something like that in the interview? Both of us will be dead then and it'll be all my fault.

"That was…good. You showed emotion and you could see it in your eyes." He sits back with a satisfied smile on his lips and I can't look at him longer then a minute. "Acacia, you might just be able to get some people to sponsor the District Thirteen tributes! Keep working on it, but it's a lot better then before."

I look up at him and just stare for a minute. "Why aren't you against the Alwin stuff? I thought that I was going to hurt him or something?"

"Hey, I can't keep you two apart. I've given up on that." He shrugs and takes a sip of water, his eyes never leave me. "So use it to your advantage and if it helps its good. But you might want to be careful about what you say, learn to control that mouth."

"You tell me that you want me to be emotional and expressive of my feelings, but then you want me to watch my mouth?" He nods and I feel the annoyance flooding through me. "Well, which ones more important? Which one will help me more?"

"Both, you can't just sit there and say whatever your thinking." He leans forward and his expression is fierce. "Unless you want do die…"

We sit here for another hour and a half, he keeps asking questions and I try to control my mouth, yet give good answers at the same time. Odysseus dismisses me and I am sent to Abigail, who is brushing her hair. For some reason I actually like Abigail, I don't feel any hatred toward her….maybe its because she wants us to live because she cares about us.

"Hello, Acacia." She says turning and smiling at me. "How'd things go with Odysseus? Ready for the interview?"

"Not really, he wants me to be expressive and watch my mouth at the same time. But I can't do both." I sit down beside her and she puts her brush down, she stares at me. "There are certain things that I don't feel comfortable talking about and he thinks those are the ones that are the most powerful. When I talk about….Alwin I don't think."

"You love him." She says and I see the excitement in her eyes. "That is why you can't stop yourself and you should talk about him."

I sit here and watch as an avox brings Abigail in some tea, this one looks at me oddly for a second and walks out of the room. Quietly I get up and leave the room, Abigail says something about how cute it is that I'm sneaking off to see Alwin again. Slowly I follow the avox with long dark brown hair and wide green eyes, she walks into my room. Once she is in there I walk in and shut the door behind me. She turns to me, her eyes are wide.

"Hi." I say and walk toward her. Quickly I pick up a note pad and a pen. "Can you write?"

She nods once and I sigh, slowly she takes the note pad from me and looks at me. Obviously she wants to know what I want. I stare at her trying to think about how to ask her what I want to know.

"Back there you stared at me, as if you knew me or something." She nods and smiles a small smile. "Why?"

Nodding she looks down and the piece of paper and sits down on my bed. Slowly she starts to write and I have the urge to watch her, to see what she is writing. A moment later she hands me the piece of paper. I take it and look at it:

_You are Acia,_

_I know your father, he told me about you. He said that this would eventually happen and when it did to watch over you. My name is Lillian and I am a friend of your fathers. He's helped me and now I will help you. The first thing that you should know is that he is alive, Acia. Your dad is alive. _

**Thank you for reading and please review! It would mean a lot to me and it'll help me write better or stay on the track that I'm going.**


	15. Chapter 15:A Choice Is Made

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games.**

**Thank you to all of you for reading my story and thank you to everyone who has reviewed!**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

I sink down to my knees on the floor, she knows my dad….she really knows him. Lillian pats my shoulder and I look up at her. She is looking at me as though she really understands what I'm going through, what I want. Slowly I hand her back the piece of paper and she takes it with a small smile.

"Is my dad…." My eyes shut and I feel tears coming, but I can't allow them to fall. "Is he alive?"

She doesn't even use the piece of paper, she just nods her head and writes down on a the piece of paper: _He is a fighter and won't give up. Hale needs to know that his family is okay, that you are okay. That is why I'm here._

"I can't believe this….he's really alive." She smiles at me. My father sent this girl to me, to help me and tell me about him. This is all too much and I feel the tears starting to escape, but I don't care…not now. "Where is he? Is he an Avox?"

Lillian looks back down at her piece of paper and starts to write. This time she takes a few minutes, I watch her as she stops to think of how to put it all down. She shakes her head a few times and finally shows it to me: _He's still being tortured. Hale is in the captive area. No he is not an Avox, they enjoy hearing him scream. If he was an Avox I wouldn't feel like I know you, like I need to protect you._

"Thank you. I can't believe that my father sent you here, for me." She just smiles at me and helps me stand back up. Lillian is smiling brighter at me, I never thought that someone could smile that wide. "Do you think that I have a chance, at winning the Games?"

Slowly she walks over to my desk and sits down, I watch as she starts to write again. A minute later she holds up the paper to me: _Yes, you have a chance. Alwin is on your side and he will protect you. He loves you and your father always knew that, he told me to tell you to listen and trust Alwin. To choose Alwin…_

I stare at her in shock, my dad told her everything? Why would he want me to choose Alwin? How would he know about everything? Everything is starting to get a lot harder, my father is alive and I am being told to chose Alwin. Should I listen to my father? Can I trust Lillian? She knows all of this information, but what if it's a trap? My eyes meet hers and I feel that I can trust her. Lillian is telling me the truth and I can trust her.

"Acacia?" My bedroom door opens and Lillian shoves the piece of paper into her pocket. Alwin walks into the room and Lillian rushes out, not making eye contact with him. He just stares at her as she rushes out. "Are you okay?"

I walk toward him and put my arms around him, without thinking about it I kiss him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Come on…."

"Ace, your crying. What's wrong?" He pulls me back into my room and closes the door. I don't know what to do….I can't tell him about what just happened or Lillian will be even more in danger. "Ace…you can tell me anything. What's going on?"

"It's nothing…." Looking into his eyes I want to tell him, but I can't. My gaze drops to his lips and I smile a little. "I was just….thinking about my dad…."

"Oh, Ace." He pulls me into a hug and I smile a little. "Everything will be fine, don't worry…."

After a few minutes I drag him out of my room and into the dinning room, where Odysseus is talking to Abigail, Cameron and Clove. Everyone gets silent when we walk in and they all become too interested in their plates. We sit down at our usual spots, they just leave two chairs side by side for us now. Odysseus looks at us, there is a huge smile on his face.

"You two must be excite about the interviews tomorrow. Everything will go fine, don't worry." His attitude shocks me and I just stare at him. I take Alwin's hand in mine and we play with each other's fingers. "Both of you are ready and will be great. We will get you two some good people to sponsor you both."

I don't say a word and neither does Alwin, both of us are too shocked by him. The food is put in front of us and we are taken into a sitting room to watch the chariots, they showed them last night but we didn't want to watch them then. My eyes aren't on the TV though, they are on the floor. All that I can think about is my dad and what Lillian told me, trust Alwin….choose Alwin. Silently I look over at Alwin and think about it, I do love him, but should I make this choice right now? He squeezes my hand and smiles at me….yes, I have to make this decision right now.

An idea comes to my mind as our chariot goes into the garage and the doors shut, sealing us in. Wordlessly I get up and drag Alwin with me, Odysseus says something to me, but I don't respond-or even hear what. We walk in silence until we reach my room, once inside I close the door behind us and turn to him. His face has a confused expression on it and I smile a little, yes I love him and I want to be with him. I step toward him and press my lips to his and he pulls me over to the bed where we lay in each other's arms and kiss.

"What was that for?" He asks me with a smile on his lips. Slowly he kisses my forehead and I snuggle into his warmth. "Was there a reason for this great moment?"

"Yes…" I sit up and look into his eyes, my lips turn into a smile. "Alwin…I….I choose you. I love you…"

"You choose me?" I nod and his smile widens. He kisses me again, softly and I am glad that I told him now. "I love you too. What…what made you change your mind though?"

"I just decided that if I'm going into the Games where I could die…." My eyes are locked with his and I think for a second. "Then I should at least tell the person that I love that I want to be with them…."

**Thank you for reading and PLEASE leave me a review so I know what you think! Thank you!**

***~KelsNicole~***


	16. Chapter 16:Alwin Is On My Mind

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games.**

**Okay I felt that the other chapter didn't have enough in it, so I typed this one out and hope that it is better. Thank you for reading and to everyone who's reviewed.**

**Enjoy!*~KelsNicole~***

Abigail is talking to us as we wait to be called on stage for our interviews, she is making me even more nervous as she chatters on. Odysseus pulls me aside and just stares at me for a moment, then he sighs. Right now all that I can think about is that he's going to say something bad, that I've done something wrong and I'll totally screw up the interview. But to my surprise he smiles.

"You'll do fine, just breath. Stay calm, don't start freaking out. Remember what happened when you freaked out with just me? It wasn't pretty." I stare at him and wonder why he isn't criticizing me, he sees my confused expression and looks down. "Acacia, I'm sorry….I was wrong about you. You aren't like Aphrodite and you can win, that I have said all along. I believe in you, prove me right this time."

"I'll try, thanks Odysseus." I turn away, but he grabs my arm and I turn back to him. "What's wrong?"

His eyes are wide and I stare at him, confused. "Are you and Alwin coming forward about your relationship?"

"No…." I look down, we didn't talk about it. Looking over at Alwin I don't think that he's going to. "We aren't going to."

"Okay, I just thought that I should ask." He gestures toward the stage. "You'll be called out in a few minutes."

I nod and walk back over to Alwin, he smiles lightly at me and I smile back. Without a word he takes my hand as they announce us and we walk out, in order of our District numbers. Alwin sits behind me and I watch as the District One tributes start things off, the girl Victoria talks as though she is already the winner. She is cocky and arrogant and claims that her and Victor will win. Victor's not much better, he might even be worse. He sits there and says that he's amused by his competition.

District Three is just as bad as them. Megan says that she can't wait to be in the Capital and start a family, she goes as far as to say that Victoria is as good as dead. She stares at the audience and says that she hopes to entertain them and give them a good show. Mark sits there and brags about himself, he can throw someone twice his weight, blah, blah, blah. They both look at each other as Mark sits back down and they obviously think that they've won over the viewers.

Sophia, from District Five is expressionless and vague with her answers, she says something about trying to make it back home. When she is asked about her talents is when she smirks, I hear her say something about getting away and using a knife. Garret takes Sophia's place and he answers the questions in a sad voice. He says that he just wants to go home and will do anything to, but the fear in his eyes are clear. This makes me feel even worse for the little boy.

The siblings from District Six are up next, Anna and Chase Solivin. Anna tries to seem cheery, but you can see the part of her that is detached. She mainly talks about her parents and how they died, which left her and her brother alone. Their ways of survival were slipping away and they knew it, so they agreed to volunteer once the tributes where chosen if they thought it would be better if they were to go in. Chase sits there like a piece of card board and he talks about the same things, but another topic comes up. He was in love with this girl, Melina Abberton, but when his parents died he lost her. They were both from the better part of their District, but once he went down her parents wouldn't let her see him.

Kayla and Richard are the District Eight Tributes, both of them seem determined to live. They talk about how they've gotten close to the District One and Three Tributes, something tells me that they are going to join the Careers. Neither of them talk about their skills and they say that tomorrow we will see their scores from the private training sessions, that it will show how dangerous they are.

Katherina and Aidan are District Twelve's tributes, neither of them seem to know much but are arrogant. They talk about how District Twelve needs to see winners in the Hunger Games and how they are the two that will win. Aidan says that he will give anything to win and it is clear that him and Katherina would kill each other to win. I hope that this isn't what happens to Alwin and me.

When my name is announced I just sit here for a minute and take a deep breath. Slowly I walk over to the chair and sit down, now I feel my nerves really acting up. I look over at Alwin who smiles at me, a reassuring smile. His smile tells me that I can do this and I know that I can.

"Acacia, we know that you volunteered for your sister and why." Caesar Flickerman says with a wide smile. Don't laugh, don't laugh…. "Now what we don't know is why Alwin volunteered to take the place of your brother. Any ideas?"

"Alwin knows my family and he is a part of my family. When we were younger we were really good friends….we got reunited at the wrong time." I look at Alwin and see that he is nodding and smiling. My smile grows a little wider. "He is a great friend to me and I am thankful for him. I would do anything for him, he saved Mio. You saved him….."

The rest of the interview goes by fast and he keeps asking questions about my family and friends. I smile a little when I talk about my little sister, but my eyes always drift back to Alwin. Caesar notices and asks me at the very end why I keep looking at Alwin and he suspects its 'love', but we run out of time.

As I walk back to my seat, Alwin and I meet in the middle and he squeezes my hand. I walk back to my seat and sit down, as Alwin takes his seat. Caesar smiles at him and welcomes him. They go back and forth saying how lovely it is to be here and stuff, how they should go out to dinner sometime and keep joking around. After a few seconds of this Caesar looks at Alwin with a bright smile.

"Now let's hear what you have to say." Caesar makes Alwin smile and laugh. They both sit there and stare at each other. Alwin's eyes move over to me, because we both know what subject is going to be brought up. "What's going on between you and Acacia? Is it love?"

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review, so then I know what you think and if you liked it or not! =D**


	17. Chapter 17:A Kiss For Alwin & Capital

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games, S.C. does.**

**Thank you to everyone for reading and to those of you who have reviewed.**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

I hold my breath as Alwin locks eyes with me, what is he going to do? A part of me wants to hear what he is thinking right now, but the other part of me is thinking that it won't help us at all in the Games if he tells the truth about us. Caesar is staring at him and being patient, its only been ten seconds but it feels like its been hours.

"That's….complicated. I really care about Ace and she cares about me." Alwin says and I smile at him. Right after I wish that I hadn't, my face is on the screen now and I hear people awing. "We've been friends since we were kids and I would do just about anything for her and her family. When Mio's name was read something in me broke….I knew what I had to do."

"That is a good friend indeed." Caesar says with a sympathetic smile. "Now, tell us are you two in love?"

"There is a girl that I'm in love with. She is a great girl." Alwin looks down and I see that he's blushing. Have I ever seen him blush before? No, I haven't. "My love has grown deeper then I ever imagined and every time that I see her feels like the first time. Of course I love her…"

"You must feel extremely happy that you two could win!" Caesar says in an ecstatic voice. "Tell us about the two of you."

"Well….we met when we were four. She was wearing a little light pink dress, there was a white bow on the back of the dress. Her hair fell to her shoulders and a bow kept it tide back." I stare at him as he looks back on that day, how can he remember the dress? How can he remember the bows? "From that moment on I was under her spell….I guess you could say that. When I saw her with her family it only made me care about her even more, her little sister wanted this little doll and Ace saved up for it. Her little sister cried when she got it."

The camera goes to me again and I see myself sitting here in shock, but I can't stop myself from staring. Everything that he's saying happened when we were younger, we I was eight is when I got her the doll. I look down and feel myself smiling. Alwin talks on and on about us, about how much he wants both of us to live. From what he's saying we both have a pretty good chance.

Caesar looks at him with a smile on his lips. "Why do you think you two will win? What special skill do you have?"

"Ours is one that will conquer everything." He looks over at me and our eyes are glued to each other's. The whole thing is being shown to all of the Districts and the Capital, its all over now….we are the two tributes in love from District Thirteen. "We are in love and that love will carry us through anything."

"This is going to be one good Hunger Games!" Caesar says as Alwin's time runs out. "Thank you Alwin! I think anyone will agree with me when they say they hope you two win and can be together."

"Thank you." Alwin says standing up and waves to the people. "Thank you to all of you too…."

Alwin walks back towards his seat and I stand up, he stares at me and I kiss him before I realize what I'm doing. The cameras are on us as we share the moment, that I wish could have been private. We break apart as the anthem begins and we just stare at each other, I know that the cameras are still on us….but I don't care.

We are on the elevator just taking each other in, Odysseus and Abigail are both obviously feeling uncomfortable right now. The elevator reaches our floor and we all get off, Alwin and I have a few ideas on our minds right now, but Odysseus drags us into one of the sitting rooms. He sits down across from us and I can't keep my eyes off of Alwin, which is annoying Odysseus.

"Okay, I must congratulate the two of you. I was wrong, again…" We both look at him in shock, but my mind is only on Alwin and his lips. "You two did great out there and the kiss at the end….well, that'll win people over. I think that's what is going to put the two of you over the top."

"Thanks…" I say and start to stand up. Odysseus stares at me, confused that I am standing up. "We have….a few things….that we have to do…."

"You two go on ahead, I'm not going to try and stop you two." Odysseus waves his hand at us. "Just remember that you two have your private training sessions tomorrow, be ready."

We both nod, not really listening to him. I shut the door behind us and we fall down onto my bed. His lips aren't against mine fast enough and we lay on the bed together, just kissing and enjoying being together. I want to win, I have to win. Alwin is mine and I am his. But I have to get through training tomorrow and the Games. I think that I can get pretty descent scores tomorrow for training…..

Alwin kisses my forehead and I lay against him, just happy to be able to be alone with him. His kisses leave me breathless and I stare into his eyes.

"I love you, Ace…." Just him saying it sends a shiver of pleasure down my spine. "Always have and always will."

"I love you too." My lips are against his again. "We are going to survive this. You and me, we'll be together…"

"Yes, we will." He smiles at me and pulls my blanket up around me. "No ands ifs or buts. It'll always be you and me."

It will always be Alwin and me. Against the Hunger Games. Against the other tributes. Against the Capital. Against our deaths….

**Thank you for reading and PLEASE review! A new chapter should be up tomorrow! =D **


	18. Chapter 18:A Private Session & Anger

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games.**

**Thank you to everyone who's read my story. Please leave a review, I want to know what all of you think, thank you to everyone who has left a review. I would love to know what all of you think of my story so far.**

**Enjoy!*~KelsNicole~***

"You'll do fine, Ace. Don't worry, you can do this." Alwin is sitting beside me in the room where we normally eat lunch while in training. He's captured my hands in his and is rubbing them. "We can do this…..we can win. Us the knife and the bow and arrows."

"I'm not the best at using the bows and arrows, but I'll try." We put our heads together and kiss one last time, Alwin is up next. "You are way better, remember to show them how you can use that knife."

He smiles at me as someone comes in to take him to his private training session, his eyes stay on mine until he disappears. I am alone, completely alone. Every part of me is getting nervous and I know that most likely I will get a low score, who is Alwin kidding? For someone who can't kill anyone how am I supposed to get a good score? Just do your best…..that's what Odysseus told me this morning and Lillian told me that she believes in me. I can do this….

Thirty minutes later a man with bright red hair walks in and smiles at me, its my turn. I take a deep breath and follow him, he opens the door for me and I walk in. The door closes behind me and I see all of the Gamemakers sitting at a large table they look at me once and smile. All of them are holding a glass of wine and are eating, a part of me is angry at them. I know that I am here because of them and I am about to go into the Games that they made.

With a small smile on my lips I walk over to the various weapons and pick up four knifes and a bow with arrows. Some of the Gamemakers have lost interest in me and are writing on their note pads, what happens next they don't expect. A knife goes right into one of their paper pads, right where the person's pen had been just seconds ago. Now I have their attention again and I throw another knife, this time at the bottle of wine sitting on the table, it breaks and wine pours out all over the table. My anger is turning me into a careless person, they aren't going to give me good scores for this….but I don't care. Everyone is watching me to see what I will do next and I am sure not to disappoint them. My third knife lodges into the large turkey that is in the center of the table, right in between the legs of the thing. All of them are staring at me in shock and I know that I'm going overboard, but I can't stop myself. Now I use my bow and arrows and I nail every single one of them. They all start to pick at the turkey and this makes me angry, if I am going to go in and die for you at least give me your full attention. I know that I shouldn't do this but….I aim at the light right above them, its dangling by one thin cord and as soon as my arrow shoots through it, the light falls down onto the table and all of them jump back in surprise.

I bow and walk toward the door. "Thank you for giving me my death so soon and for giving me this opportunity to meet all of you GREAT people."

The door shuts behind me and I stand there, a small smile is on my lips. I know that what I've just done is asking for death, but I don't care. Since I'm going to have to fight to the death anyways why not scare the Gamemakers? I'm sure that they've never seen anything like that before. Slowly I walk to the elevators and head up to my floor, this is when my smile fades….Odysseus won't be happy with what I've done.

"You did what?" Odysseus looks as though he could just pass out. He is staring at me as though he is seeing someone dead. "Acacia!"

"I'm sorry, it just….happened. Odysseus, they were looking at me as though I were just a piece of a game, as though I amuse them." Everyone is watching me right now and I know that I've just screwed Alwin and me over. "None of it matters anyways….I'm going in anyways and my score can't be much worse then it would have been. We are already promised to be tortured in the Games, so what's the difference?"

Everyone agrees and we eat in silence. After dinner we walk into the sitting room and I see Odysseus is smiling a little, obviously a small part of him is glad that I did that during my private training session. We all stare at the TV as it comes on, standing there is Helena Cavora, she is smiling, as usual. She starts by saying that this will be a VERY good Hunger Games this year and that she would like to make a guess at who will win. To my surprise she says the District Thirteen tributes and continues by saying that we have captured the viewers hearts.

She disappears and we all know that the scores are coming. We all hold our breaths as District One's number pops up and my finger nails dig into Alwin's hand.

District One:

Victoria-9, Victor-9

District Three:

Megan-6, Mark-10

District Five:

Sophia-8, Garret-3

District Six:

Anna-11, Chase-9

District Eight:

Kayla-5, Richard-6

District Twelve:

Katherina-10, Aidan-12

District Thirteen:

Acacia-13, Alwin-12

Time stops as I stare at our scores, everyone is clapping and screaming. I sit here, stuck in shock. I blink and think about what this means, I got the top score….I am the one everyone thinks is the deadliest. Everyone will come after me first, this is what the President wants, for me to die. But I won't give up, I'll fight until I am dead.

"See I told you that you could do it." Alwin says and kisses me once on the forehead. There is a smile on his lips and I smile at him. "I always knew you could do this…good job."

"You did good too." I say and smile at him. "Alwin, you got a twelve and I bet you deserved it."

There is a part of me that is happy that I got the highest score that you can possibly get, but the other part of me is yelling that it is going to be my death. I will do anything to live and win…..I'll have to kill.

**Thank you for reading! PLEASE review!**


	19. Chapter 19:A Deadly Game Begins

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games.**

**Okay sorry that its up so late, so busy today! Hope all of you like it! Thank you for reading and please review!**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

Abigail is smiling at us both as we follow her around, she is talking about our entrance to the Games. We will all be in matching outfits, we know that much and have trackers inserted into our arms. Odysseus walks over to us and I see that he is starting to worry. We only have a few hours until we go into the arena and now is when we are all going to start worrying. What if we aren't as good as the others?

"You'll do fine, both of you will. Remember what I told you both." He says and to my surprise hugs us both. A second later he steps away from us as though nothing had happened. "Stay alive and find each other at the cornucopia, don't forget there is only one map to the Capital and while the others are battling you two go for the map. Don't worry about weapons, get that map."

We both nod as we are pulled off by Cameron and Clove, they are hurrying us and I wave good-bye to Alwin. Cameron pulls me down the hall and leads me down to an empty room that has a metal plate in the center. He hands me an outfit and ushers me into another room, where I change into an orange and black t-shirt and a pair of black pants. Quickly they brush my hair back and put it into a tight ponytail. We walk back into the room after I say good-bye to my prep team, they are all staring at me and wishing me luck.

"Remember you are good, you will win." Odysseus says as he walks me toward the center of the room where there's a round metal plate. He helps me stand on it and I try to breath, clear my mind, nothing can be on it. "Just….play the Game."

I am frozen and someone walks in, once they are close enough they make a small incision in my left arm and put a small chip in. The person steps back after they put something on it to heal it and they smile at me. My plate starts to move upward and I am still frozen, this is it. My Hunger Games is about to begin.

My plate slides into place and I am un-frozen, I look around me and see a forest surrounding me. All around me on plates are the other female tributes, no one moves. Everyone's outfits have black on them with black pants, but everyone's tops have different colors on them. We all try not to breath, sixty seconds is a long time to stay still for or you are blown up. Everyone is looking at each other, waiting for someone to move. I try to count in my head, but its not working.

Sophia takes a deep breath and steps off of the plate and she is fine. She is wearing a black and red shirt. Everyone jumps off of their plates and we all look at each other, daring someone to make a move that they will regret. No one does though and we all take a step closer to one another. Victoria looks as though she is about to start something when I step up beside Anna.

"We should make a deal, one that will last until we reach the cornucopia." I say and my voice is strong, much more strong then I feel right now. "It will be a way that everyone makes it back to their partners and we have a better chance."

Anna stares at me, her eyes are wide. "What are you saying? That we shouldn't fight until after we are back with the tribute from our District?"

"Yes, its simple and it will help us all. Unless you all want to just fight now and have us not have a chance." Everyone is staring at me, I can tell that most of them want to agree with me. "Think about it….if we all agree we will have a better chance of winning. Alone none of us really stand a chance, but with our partner…"

"You just want Alwin to save you, after all he is YOUR boyfriend." Megan says and rolls her eyes. "How pathetic is that?"

"If I remember correctly Mark and you are married." She glares at me and I know that I've made an enemy. "He will protect you as well."

"No." She says and I see her eyes are full of coldness. "He won't do anything to save me, that's the difference between us and you two, we are looking out for ourselves."

"I think that we should all do it." Anna says. Everyone looks at her and Sophia nods her head. "That way we all have a fair chance."

We start to walk into the woods together, but after a few minutes Victoria has to stop and look around for a minute. I take Anna, Sophia and Kayla aside, quietly I make an alliance with them, its simple we have each others backs. They won't kill me and I won't kill them. Once Victoria comes back we are on our way again, she is eyeing me as though planning my death.

After a few hours we are stopped and we stand waiting, there is a force field and we all stare up at it. Brendan Cloverton's voice rings out, "Welcome ladies! This is the first challenge, through out the Hunger Games two people will be taken aside to duel and who ever wins will continue on with the others. Our first two challengers are Anna and Megan! Please step forward."

Megan is smiling and Anna looks nervous, but determined. Anna has to beat her and I know that she can. She walks forward and I watch as they each pick up a knife at their feet….I sure hope that they don't get to keep the knifes. Our eyes are glued to them as Megan lunges, thank god she misses but Anna gets her in the stomach. It looks like it pains Anna to do this, but she has to….all of us have to. To my disbelief Megan falls to her knees and Anna stabs her in the heart. Megan falls to the ground, Anna looks down at the knife and lets it drop to the ground.

She re-joins us as Brendan's voice rings out again, "Very nice battle! Anna is the winner of this challenge, but there are more to come! The boys have also had a battle and I will tell you three possible deaths. District One-Victor, District Six-Chase or District Thirteen-Alwin. Congratulations again to Anna! The rest of you may continue on!"

We are all looking around us and all that I can think about is no…Alwin can't be dead. I take a deep breath and the invisible force holding us in disappears. Anna is holding my hand as we walk, we both know how the other one feels. Her brother might be dead and my friend might be dead. What will I do without Alwin? This is a new twist to the Games and then I remember, I am trying to control the Games. They won't allow me to, I'll have to play it their way or die.

Everyone is quiet as we all think about who's died, no one says a word. If its Alwin I will just die, how can I go on in the Games without him? We are supposed to go on together and protect each other. But I know that the chances are as good as anyone else's. Please don't let Alwin be dead….just please.

**Thank you for reading! Please review!**


	20. Chapter 20:A Path of Horrible Memories

**Hi everyone! I hope that all of you are enjoying the story so far! Much more is to come! Thank you for reading and leaving reviews!**

**Enjoy!*~KelsNicole~***

We walk on, no one knows what is going to happen next. Everyone is on edge and I keep trying to tell myself that Alwin is okay, that they probably put the two male tributes from the same District against each other. But I know that I am trying to fool myself, they don't play the Games this way. Anna is shaking beside me, she is praying for the same thing, that Victor is dead.

"Okay you know what?" Victoria turns to all of us and she looks vicious. "Stop doing this! Both of you two pull yourselves together!"

I stare at her, god I hate her! "What you aren't at all worried about Victor? You don't see what they are doing to us do you? They are trying to pull us apart and pin us against each other, they want us to break the deal. This is all a game to them….it could be our deaths."

"I am so sick of you! Don't you get that all that I want is for you to stop talking and planning?" Victoria is pointing at me. She looks upset, maybe she thinks that Victor is dead….maybe that's why she's acting this way. "Just stop! If you want the deal to continue on, then you two have got to change this!"

"Fine." I say and I can tell that I surprised her. "But….then you have to stop treating everyone like that."

She grits her teeth and we keep walking on and a part of me feels bad for her. I know how she feels, she feels as though she might have lost the only person who has her back in this whole Game. Of course they always said that they will watch the other die for them to live, I don't think that's true. It's all an act….its all a game.

We come to a clearing, cautiously I walk across and see that there are seven separate paths. Each path has a number on it, for each of our Districts. I stare at Megan's, District Three and I know that she just wanted to live. I shut my eyes and tell myself to get into the Game, all of this is just a whole bunch of little games and I have to be able to play them…..and kill, or I'll die.

All of us walk toward our numbers, Anna and I drop hands. We give each other a small nod as we walk into our path, it is like a maze…except for one person and I think that they all lead to the same place. The cornucopia.

I look around me and watch as memories float around me, my family at my sixth birthday party, my family at my first birthday after my dad disappeared, Ethan kissing me and I know that this is all just me seeing things that are supposed to unravel me. They can't see this, they can't see it. Taking a breath each time that I take a step I continue on, the memories get worse….I come to a dead end and see Alwin walking toward me. It's just your imagination….its just your imagination….

"Acacia! What are you doing here?" He yells and I stop in my tracks. Alwin is angry with me, no wait….he's furious. "You couldn't choose! Remember? After everything that we've been through you considered choosing him?"

"No, Alwin…." I say and I feel tears coming to my eyes. Didn't I say that I chose him? What is this? "Alwin….I choose you."

"No! You can't go back now!" He yells at me and I fall to my knees. "Don't worry though I've chosen someone else…."

I look up and see one of the things that I feared the most as a child, Alyssa walks toward us and takes Alwin's hand. Slowly they kiss each other and my tears pour out of my eyes. This can't be happening….wait! Alwin looks like he's….eight or ten. This is one of my nightmares from back then, this is not real….its not.

"YOU AREN'T REAL!" I yell and I run at the wall. To my surprise I break through it, that was meant to break us down. My eyes open and I look around me and see the cornucopia. None of the other girls have made it through yet, but three of the guys have. Without thinking I run toward the cornucopia, all that I can think about is finding Alwin. "What?"

Something or someone has grabbed my arm and is pulling me toward the woods. I look and my breath catches…its Alwin. We are in the woods and I pull him to me. He seems shocked but hugs me back. Looking back at the clearing I watch as the others break through their walls.

"NO!" I hear Victoria scream and another scream follows that. "VICTOR! HE CAN'T BE!"

I stare at Alwin and see that he has a cut on his left cheek, this is not what I was expecting. He takes my hand and we start to run through the woods, I feel him put something in my free hand though…a knife. Once we reach a tall tree we stop and he looks at me.

"Yes, I killed him…." He says through gritted teeth. "I volunteered to….it was going to be him and Garrett."

"Okay." I say and look around us. We have to find the map, normally its hidden some where far away. "Alwin, we have to find the map…"

"Let's go." He shoulders a backpack and hands me one. I raise my eyebrows. "I got out first…so I got some supplies.""Wait…" I stare at something sticking out of the backpack he's handing me. "Is that…."

It is! A bow and arrows, we have some home. He is holding onto a large sword, but he doesn't look confident with it. Silently he takes his hand in mine and we walk on, to the left. Our only hope is to find the map and no one will know when we do, that is one of the good things. The viewers, Gamemakers and us will know. I look behind us and see no one is following, everyone must still be back at the cornucopia.

"Don't worry." Alwin says and squeezes my hand. "We will find it…."

But before we can continue on we both look behind us, standing there is Victoria. Her eyes are red with rage and she looks like she is ready to kill. She knows that Alwin killed Victor….

She steps forward. "You…Are…Both….Dead!"

We both stare at her in shock as a knife leaves her hand.

**Thank you for reading and PLEASE review! Haha, I know another cliffhanger, sorry I had to. It seems like they are just a part of me and this story. I hope all of you like it so far! New chapter coming tomorrow! =D **


	21. Chapter 21:A New Twist

**Hey everyone! Thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing! This is a….interesting chapter haha! I hope all of you like it!**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

I stare at the knife as it is coming toward us and before I know it I am on the ground. Alwin is on the ground beside me and the knife lodges into a tree, we both stand up and I see that she has pulled out another knife. Without thinking about it I throw a knife at her leg and it lodges into her knee, she cries out in pain and sees me still on the ground. Before she can do anything a arrow goes right into her neck and she falls to the ground, I stare at her and feel as though I'm going to get sick. My eyes close as Alwin goes and takes the weapons off of her. I look around and see Anna sitting in a tree, she gives me one nod and I smile a small smile at her. She saved us.

Alwin turns to me and helps me up, I watch as Anna scales down the tree and walk towards us. She is alone and I remember that I can trust her, she is on my side. We watch as she stops in front of us and Alwin just nods to her.

"You want to come with us?" He asks her and she just nods. "Chase….is good, you two can come with us. Where is he?"

"He…he's…." She looks down and I see a tear fall from her eye. My heart is breaking for her as the truth settles in, Chase is dead. "One, Three, Eight and Twelve are working together. Victoria…she told…."

"Come on, we need to move." I say and take her hand. We follow Alwin and Anna is crying the whole time. "Shh….its okay."

There is a soft crunching sound to our right and we all turn. I have my bow and arrow ready, Alwin has his knife and sword ready. Anna is not ready to have a weapon right now, she is still pretty upset and she is whimpering that Chase died because of her….for her. Victoria was going after her and someone was supposed to go after Chase, I don't know who though, but Chase took a knife for her.

"Hi…" The voice is Sophia's and I lower my bow and arrow. Alwin keeps his knife and sword raised. "Is…is the offer still good?"

"Yeah…" I say with a small smile as she comes into view. "Of course it is….did anyone else come with you?"

She smiles as Garret and her walk into view. Their hands are held tightly together. Behind them I see a slight movement and I yell for them to get down, but its too late. Garret falls to the ground, blood is coming out of his back and I gasp as I see a knife in his back. But this is a different knife….its got poison in it. Everything has just gotten a whole lot deadlier. Sophia cries but rushes toward us, another knife is thrown, but Alwin pulls her down just in time. Looking up I see that Katherina and Aidan are standing in the open, and I throw a knife at them….they duck. I hear them yelling at each other and they run away, but I see why right after. Mark, Kayla and Richard come running up. Fourteen of us started out in this deadly game and already five of us are dead. The four of us turn and run, we can't afford to lose anyone else. Alwin spots a cave and we all run into it. I hear something hit the ground hard, behind us and I look back for a second. Mark has fallen and the other two are looking around, not knowing where we've gone.

We inch farther into the cave to make sure that we aren't spotted. The farther in that we go the lighter it gets, everyone is looking around and all of us are getting to the point of thinking that it's a trap. A big, brightly lit room is as far as we can go and we all watch in horror as a wall slides down and shuts us in. Everyone looks around at each other, no one understanding what is happening.

Brendan Cloverton's voice rings out, "Welcome to all of you! You are so very close to the map that will show you the way to the Capital! But there is a new obstacle, everyone in this room is your opponent. Only one male and one female can leave! May the odds be ever in your favor!"

We all slump down to the ground and stare at each other. Alwin is going to live, no one is going to go against him. But the three girls, Acacia, Sophia and Anna will have to go against each other. Only one can leave alive and Acacia doesn't want to kill the other two, the way that they look at her is as though they feel the same way. But Anna does something that surprises all of them, she stands up and one tear falls from her eyes.

"We need to do something, if we don't all of us will die." She walks around the room. "Not all of us can live and we already know Alwin is going to."

"What are you planning?" I ask Anna and all of us stare at her. "Anna?"

"I'm sorry, but I just can't hurt either or you….or kill you." She says and sinks down to her knees next to Alwin. Alwin watches her and she starts to cry. "Chase is dead…..and what am I supposed to do?"

Alwin takes her hand in his and shakes his head at her. "No, don't give up. There has to be another way."

But Anna just shakes her head and she takes her hand back. She slumps back against the wall and looks at each of us and I know that she is planning on dieing first. I stand up but she puts something in her mouth and I take one more step, but its too late. Anna falls to the ground and is motionless. As soon as I see Alwin's eyes close I fall to my knees and cry.

"She's dead…" I cry. "Why did she do that?"Sophia looks at me for a minute. "You really don't know? Acacia? Everyone who has chosen to be on your side…."

"What?" I ask her. She is staring at me as though I've lost my mind. "What are you talking about?"

"We've all heard your story and all of us know what its like. But…" She looks down and I want to start to cry even harder. "But….everyone agreed that if their partner died, then the two people left with a partner should…live."

"What?" I stand up and stare at her wide eyed. "Why?"

"It's only fair." She says as she stares at me. "I'm next, you have to live….you are….the Jabberjay. You have to live."

I can't do anything as she takes the knife in her hands and she stabs herself. She slumps to the ground and more tears come. That leaves only Mark, Kayla, Richard, Katherina, Aidan, Alwin and me. This is going to be a horrible game….

**Thank you for reading and please review! Another chapter will be up tomorrow! =D**


	22. Chapter 22:A Night Time Hunt Begins

**Hey! I hope that everyone likes the story so far! For the rest of the week and one day next week I might be updating less then usual, but I will update when I can. Thank you to everyone for reading and who's reviewed. **

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

Alwin helps me stand up as the wall moves back out of place and a small hole forms in the ground of the cave. We walk over to it and I see a little hard box, carefully I pull it out and see that it's a part of the map to the Capital. Great, they've made it harder, now the map is in pieces. I let out a breath, this is just a new twist to keep us at each other's throats.

"We'll get the other pieces." Alwin says and pulls me toward the entrance of the cave so that we can get out of her. Neither of us want to get stuck in here again. "Don't worry, we'll just have to…fight for them."

"That's what they want." I look at him. "That means that Sophia and Anna gave up their lives for nothing."

"No, they didn't. They both wanted you to live." He says as we come to the opening. "We made a deal-well I did with all of them and it was just to keep you alive. Everyone is helping me keep you alive."

I stare at him in shock. "No, not everyone."

"Well, almost everyone was." He shakes his head. "Now its just you and me keeping each other alive, I guess."

"What do you think is going to happen? I mean….we have this, but everyone is going to want the whole map." We walk out of the cave carefully and start to walk farther into the forest. I look around us and feel like something is wrong. The next thing that I know I am on the ground, something has caught my foot and I heard a crack. My eyes shut as I try to get my foot back and I get it out of the hole. I open my eyes and look around us. "Alwin, we have to-"

An arrow shoots toward us, but Alwin knocks it out of the way with his sword. He is staring ahead, I put the piece of the map into my backpack. I watch as Katherina and Aidan walk into view, both of them are looking smug. Katherina gets a bow in the foot and she yelps, she pulls out a knife. But I watch in shock as Aidan picks Katherina up and looks at us for a minute as Alwin picks me up, carefully. Their eyes never leave each other, but I know that this is not the last time that we will see them.

"We'll see you two later." Aidan says and starts to run off with Katherina. "We'll get them…."

Alwin starts running and we come to a slant, there is a small pond beside a tall tree that goes higher then the others. He puts me down and puts his hand in the water, he smiles as he takes out an empty canteen from my backpack and fills it, he does the same with his. I watch him as he looks up at the sky, at the trees.

"I think that I could climb it." He looks at me after the words are out of my mouth. "Alwin, I know that I can and it's the safest place right now."

He nods as I stand up and he helps me over to the tree. But as I wrap my legs around the thin tree, he wraps his arms around me. I roll my eyes, but a smile creeps across my lips, he is doing this so I don't fall. We both shimmy up the tree and I go as high as I can, which is about between twenty-five percent and fifty percent up the tree. Alwin helps me onto one of the thick branches and we sit there, relaxing. Both of us drink from our canteens.

"This is horrible, I knew that it would be hard. The new twist though…." I stare at him as he hands me something out of my backpack, it's a small piece of bread. "Half of the tributes are already gone, do you think they'll keep us apart for a while? I mean if we catch up with each other now…."

"There will be another twist, wait and see." He looks up at the sky which is now darkening. "I'm sure that we will see the others soon…."

A few minutes later Mark, Kayla and Richard walk by our tree, they miss us. I hear them talking and saying that they have to kill the rest of us off as quickly as possible or they will be behind. They want the Games to end as quickly as possible, but we all know that the Capital wants it to go on longer. Something will happen to prolong it.

I stare up at the sky and see the faces of the tributes who died today flash in the sky. Victor, Megan, Chase, Garrett, Anna and Sophia. The Capital's anthem plays through the whole thing and I start to cry. Anna and Sophia died for me, they had a deal with Alwin.

"Don't cry." Alwin says as soon as everything is quiet. I look over at him and see that his face is clear of any emotion. "Crying could draw us unwanted attention….let me see your ankle."

He looks at my ankle and says that he thinks that its not broken, but it is swollen. I watch as he wraps it the best that he can. We sit up here and watch what is going on around us. The three Careers walk past our tree again, but they stop and I think that we have been spotted. But the three of them scream and start to climb a tree a little ways away from us. They aren't good at climbing and stop on the second branch up, which they barley get to.

I look down and see movement and I hear a low growl. Standing there on all fours is a evil looking creature, it looks like its half bear half rhino. By that I mean that it has fur like a bear, but a horn on its face. Slowly it walks over to their tree and starts to shake it, they scream and throw their weapons at it.

As we watch Alwin's arms wrap around me and I feel him shaking a little. We stay as quiet and still as we possibly can, if it comes our way I don't know what we'll do. But it starts to tip the tree a little more toward the ground. It walks around the tree and lays down. This is a twist….during the night we won't be hunting, we will be hunted by something that is not human.

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review! **

**Thanks! **

***~K.N.~***


	23. Chapter 23:Another Way Of Being Broken

_**Hey! Sorry that it took a while for me to update, if you have ever had two cats who are just meeting you understand haha. Okay, here's the new chapter I hope that all of you enjoy it. Thank you to everyone who's reading and reviewing. Anyone who's added this story to their alerts list/favorite stories list THANK YOU! **_

_**Enjoy!**_

_***~K.N.~***_

_I wake up in Alwin's arms and look down, its almost dawn and the mutants are gone. Alwin helps me sit up, while not falling out of the tree. My face scrunches up as I move my foot, I think that it's a sprain….or maybe broken. He stares at me for a second and then he takes out a canteen, both of us drink and I look down at the ground. This should be fun, walking on an injured foot…._

"_I can carry you." Alwin's voice is soft and I stare at him, my eyes are wide in shock. He can't be serious! That would be like suicide for both of us and I know that I can't let him do that for me. "You won't have to walk then and you can walk when I'm sure that we are…safer…"_

"_No, I can walk. Don't worry about me….let's just…try and get down." I carefully get back onto the trunk and almost fall a few times, my ankle is wobbling back and forth. The pain from the injury is over bearing, but I have to do it. "See? I did fine…."_

_Alwin stares at me as we start off, he stays by my side. We look every which way as we continue on and I am aware that Alwin's eyes are on me most of the time. I can barley walk so I am basically hoping around. After a few minutes Alwin sighs and just picks me up in his arms, I try to stop him but it doesn't work. He walks on and I grumble about how I can walk perfectly fine on my own._

_The farther into the woods that we go, the darker it gets. I get a feeling that we aren't alone-and I don't mean that another tribute is near by, but something far deadlier…if that is even possible. After a few minutes of this feeling I see something move and I feel panic rising up inside of me. Without thinking I grab onto the nearest branch, which makes Alwin stop._

_He stares at me, his eyes are wide in shock. "What? Is your ankle hurting?"_

"_No, its not that. Alwin…." I look ahead and see more movement and I some how need to tell him about this quickly. "Something….something is here with us and we need to get away from it."_

"_Where? What do you see?" He asks as he puts me down on the ground and we both grab onto a tree trunk. But before I can answer we both start to climb the tree and when I look down I see something that looks like a little bunny and a raccoon. "Is that….a bunny….and raccoon?"_

"_I think so." We both sit here and stare at it. The thing is kind of cute and doesn't look deadly. "Should we…."_

_But before either of us can decide what to do I drop a piece of bread and the little guy rushes to it, the piece of bread is in its mouth and it carries it back to the tree. I watch as it gives it to five little babies….it must be a mother. Kayla and Richard come into view and I watch as a smile grows on her lips. She pulls out a knife and throws it, but she misses us. The mutant looks up at her as she approaches, she's gotten too close to the babies and the thing bites into her leg. Kayla yells out in pain and I watch as she falls over, Richard rushes over and picks her up. I look at her foot and see that it is wrapped up, she was limping. He cusses and rushes off with her, the little bunny/raccoons run after them. _

_Both of us just sit here and breath, a tear escapes from my eye as I look around us. There is a sound that I know, a voice that I know…..Dula's! She's crying, I try to get out of the tree, but Alwin pins me against the trunk. I see the pain on his face as he shuts his eyes, both of us are fighting it._

_I stare at him through teary eyes. "You hear her too? Do you hear Dula?"_

"_No….I hear her. Dula….no." I stare at him not understanding, but I can see it in his eyes that he's about to jump out of the tree. "Maylee…."_

_I suck in a breath, Maylee is his older sister. She died in a fire three years ago and she was always so nice to everyone else. Never would she turn away someone in need, her and her husband would go without so others could live. She was pregnant when she died with their first child. No one knows what started the fire, but everyone was devastated by their deaths._

"_Oh, Alwin…" I pull him to me and we wrap our arms around each other. "Just hold on…we can move."_

_Shaking we both climb down the tree and try to get away from the sound. We hold hands as I limp on, neither of us can think straight. Maylee and Dula's screams echo around us and all that we want to do is run toward them and put them out of the misery. But us going that way would mean our death…._

_The sound grows louder and more desperate. We are knocked backwards onto the ground, a force field. Both of us look at each other…..we are trapped here and for how long we don't know. Tears start to rush out of my eyes as we curl up and reach out for each other's hand. Our hands meet and we lay as still as possible, trying to block out the sound. This is pure torment and there is no way of escaping it….not right now. _

"_Aca! ACA! Help! I need you to come right now!" I rush over to her and see that she is laying on the ground. Her nose is bleeding and I look up at the person standing over her. Nica Loveless. "Don't do it…Aca! If you get into one more fight you'll be suspended!"_

_But I couldn't care less, I step toward Nica and she looks a little afraid. Within seconds I have her on the ground and I stare down at her. No one hurts my family, they can mess with me all that they want, but once you mess with my family you have to deal with me. _

My eyes open as the sound fades away and I look into Alwin's eyes. His eyes are red, bloodshot from crying. There is a sound in the distance and I know that we have to move….NOW.

**I hope that you liked it! Thank you for reading and please review!**


	24. Chapter 24:An Old Ally

**Hey everyone! Thank you for reading! Here is the new chapter and I hope that all of you are liking the story so far. Please leave me a review, just a few words. I hope that all of you like this chapter!**

**Enjoy!**

***~K.N~***

We get up and I force myself to run, it hurts but I can do it. Alwin takes my hand and we run back towards the cornucopia. The final three are each going to have a piece of the map and it will be a battle to get the pieces. By the cave we stop and I see that the entrance is closed, who is inside? Are they going to kill each other as quickly as Anna and Sophia killed themselves?

I turn and see something coming toward us, but it looks like Sophia. This makes no sense to me and I watch as it stops a few feet from us. An anger is in Sophia's eyes that I've never seen before and it scares me. Sophia is dead….she is dead, this can't be real….

"Ace…" Alwin whispers as he pulls out a knife. We are both backing away from Sophia, slowly. "RUN!"

We both turn and bolt, but Sophia runs right behind us. I can see the bloodstain on her chest. Before I know it I see another cave in sight and we both rush inside of it, but as soon as we are in I know that it was a mistake. Sophia walks in and a door comes down on the opening of the cave, sealing us inside. There is an evil smile on her lips and she pulls out a knife.

"I….I…" That's all that comes out of my mouth as I stare at Sophia. "Alwin…I don't think….that I can…."

"You can." Alwin throws a knife at her and hits her foot, she just looks more furious and I hear a growl escape from her lips. "It's not Sophia, she's not Sophia…not anymore. Ace it's a mutt…"

I stare at what used to be Sophia and I know what I have to do to live. Shutting my eyes I try to get into the mindset that I have to be in, she's not my ally…she's not my ally. My eyes open and I pull out an arrow and string it through the bow. Letting out a breath I let the arrow shoot right at her, but she steps out of the way. This is when she starts to throw knifes, but she misses. Alwin gets a knife into her leg. We both move in on her when she is powerless, but then something happens. A knife is lodged into Alwin's arm and he yells in pain. Without thinking twice I stab her in the throat and put a second knife where her heart would be. Sophia falls over and I fall to my knees, tears are rushing out of my eyes as I look at Alwin.

"It…I…" He points to the knife and I pull it out of his arm. The pain is clear on his face and I look down at the blade. My eyes close as I see that its not one that has poison in it. Thank you…. "Ace…."

My eyes open, slowly. "Are you okay? Did the blade go in deep? Here let me…try to bandage you up."

"It's fine…" He brushes my hair that's fallen lose out of my eyes, it feels good to feel his touch again. "I was so afraid….that I…you were gone."

"I'm not the one who got cut." That's all that I can think about, when that blade got into his arm I thought that I was going to lose him. "I can't….I can't lose you."

"Ace….my Ace." He smiles a small smile as I pull at the coat that they gave to us for nights, so far its been bearable. It tears and I wrap it three times around his arm and tie it. To my surprise Alwin's other hand wraps around my hand on his arm, I look up into his eyes. For a split second our lips touch and I feel a little better, like everything will be okay. "Thank you…."

I stare at him and then I look over at the cave door, it still hasn't opened. Does this mean that there is something else in here? Right now I don't care, Alwin is alive and that's all that matters to me.

"Hello tributes of District Thirteen!" Brendan Cloverton's voice rings out and I almost roll my eyes. When he comes out it means something bad. "A terrible storm has trapped the two of you inside of the cave! You two should be out shortly, hopefully nothing has gotten in."

I can't help but groan, this is what I was afraid of. Some mutant is going to pop out and kill us both. But I look over at Alwin who is smiling at me, he leans back against the cave wall and I do the same. We both have our weapons out and ready, but I have a weird feeling that we aren't going to need them right now.

"We are kind of lucky." I look over and see that Alwin's smile has widened. Maybe he hit his head during the fight and has a concussion. "Everyone else is out there and we are in here…."

"Or we are being set up. What if something is in here?" But he silences me with his lips. "Alwin….what if something is waiting to kill us? Waiting until we let our guards down and then we are dead!"

"Don't worry." He says and lets me settle my head on his shoulder. "We will stay alive and if something comes….we'll be ready."

I drift off into an uneasy sleep. Memories come back to me of my family, Alwin, Ethan and Alyssa. But something comes into my mind and I know that I'll never be able to get it out of my mind, for as long as I live. The tears falling out of Sophia's eyes as she stabbed herself, she knew what she was doing. But there is something that I don't understand, she called me that Jabberjay. No one else is supposed to know about that but Alyssa, of course my pin could have given me that nickname.

But something else slips into my mind and drives everything else away, something that my dad told me when I was a little girl, "Alwin will always be there for you, he will always protect you. Trust Alwin…._choose_ Alwin. When times get tough he will always be there while…..others will run away."

It's never made sense before, but now I understand it fully. Alwin will always stand beside me, but Ethan won't. Choose Alwin….

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!**


	25. Chapter 25:An Answer

**Hey everyone! I hope that all of you like the story so far, I am having fun writing it! Thank you to all of you for reading and for those of you who have left a review. Hope all of you like this chapter! The action should pick up soon! **

**Enjoy!*~K.N.~***

The cave is cold when I wake up and its getting darker. Alwin falls asleep and I set his head down on my backpack so that I can walk around the cave. I find a way out of the cave and see that it is storming outside, its torrential down pour. There are a few branches just a few feet away and I run toward them, but there is a pain as the rain drops hit my skin. It feels like my skin is on fire, like it isn't rain. My fingers clamp over the branches and I start to drag them back toward the cave. With each drop of rain I become slower and slower, parts of my body begin to hang loosely. I get to the cave and collapse to the ground once I am inside and drag myself back toward Alwin. Sitting here I wait a few minutes and the stinging starts to lighten up. With a small smile on my lips I start a fire.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Alwin's eyes snap open as he sees me and his hand goes to his lips as he sees me. "Ace! What happened to you?"

"I went out to get some logs…for a fire. But….its not rain." His fingers touch my cheek, which I can't feel right now. The rain will only temporarily damage me and is meant to slow me down, if I was out there for a longer period of time then it would be worse. "See? Now we can have a fire and there is an exit at the back…."

We sit here and watch the fire as the storm rages on. I wonder how many people have died because of the storm, but they are probably all in the other cave. There is a loud sound and I stand up to see what it is, a large branch has fallen and smaller branches cover it, blocking the exit I used just minutes ago. For some reason this makes me a little uneasy, its like the Gamemakers want to trap us in here and force us to come face to face with something. But it seems like they would have done it already, I was asleep for a few hours and I left the cave for a few minutes. Those were the two perfect times to attack us and they did nothing.

"Alwin…." I look over at him and see that he's already staring at me. "Can I ask you something?"

He nods. "What is it?"

"Well….you know for my eleventh birthday? I was just wondering why you didn't come to my party?" He stares at me completely confused. "That's just something that's been on my mind. Ethan had the invitation and he told me that he gave it to you."

"I didn't get an invitation." Now its my turn to look confused. "Ethan….he never even talked to me about your party."

"But…but that's when we were all still friends." I look down and I realize that the reason we grew apart was because of Ethan. "Why would he do that?"

"Ace, you really don't see it? Okay, that's kind of amusing…" He is staring at me clearly amused by this whole thing, even though this is why we grew apart. "Ethan, he always had a….thing for you and he wanted every other guy away from you. Funny thing is that I just realized it, right now."

"My dad was right…" Alwin stares at me with his head cocked to the side. I laugh a little. "He told me to trust you and to choose you….over any other guy."

Before he can respond or has time to think about what I've just said, I lean forward and kiss him. Everything inside of me reacts to his touch, my stomach does a back flip. The kiss was meant to show Ethan who I choose and what I think about him now, but now its turned into pleasure. We break apart and smile at each other. I am glad that we finally talked about that, its been bugging me for years.

I lay my head down on Alwin's lap and he brushes my now loose hair out of my face. This is the first time since we've come into the arena when I let my hair down fully and it feels nice. He kisses my cheek, forehead and hands. We both enjoy the break from the Games and totally forget that we are being watched. Laying here I think about Ethan, who I thought was my friend and who I thought was looking out for me. But he ruined a friendship that I had with someone because he was jealous.

A thought runs through my mind and I sit up. "Alwin…."

"Yeah?" He puts his hand to my cheek and I smile. "Are you okay? Do you need something?"

"No." I smile at him and kiss him again. "Alwin…I'm glad that you are here with me, you are one of the only people that I know that I can trust."

"Even though this could end with our deaths, I'm glad that you are here with me too." We both smile at each other and I lay back down on his lap. "Ace….we are going to make it. We can do this."

I sigh and I think to myself we can-we have to. Alwin is who I want to be with, who I have to be with….he is the one person who really gets me and who will always have my back. We smile at each other as the storm rages on and I know that tomorrow we will have to fight to stay alive. So we will enjoy tonight and worry about tomorrow when it comes.

"We will always have each other." Alwin whispers in my ear and I smile. "Together we live and together we die…"

I smile and look up at him. "Side by side…"

There is something about being with Alwin that makes everything bearable, like my death could not be around the corner. Hopefully I get to live long enough to see what life can bring for us. Of course all that I can hope is that the odds are in my favor in this mess of my life.

**Thank you for reading! Please leave me a review! **


	26. Chapter 26:A First Kill

**Hey everyone! The new chapter, ta-da! Hope that all of you like it! Have a good Christmas!**

***~KelsNicole~***

It's morning and the storm has stopped, but we have to move the branches out of the way so that we can get out. We work together to move the branches and my ankle feels a little better, at least I can walk on it now. The pain is bearable, but it still does hurt. Alwin smiles as we get the last branch out of the way, but the way that the arena looks now is shocking. Some trees have been knocked over, branches dangling and some have fallen off completely. I take Alwin's outstretched hand as we go out together.

We step over the first fallen branch together, which is more like four large branches together. Both of us look every which way to see if anyone is around us. I see a small movement and both of us stop. Katherina and Aidan are by the small pond and are filling up their canteens. I watch as Katherina tells Aidan to test the water first, but he doesn't listen and takes a large gulp of it. A few minutes later he is coughing and gagging, he is on his knees.

"I told you to test it first!" Katherina screams at him. She is on her knees beside him and she looks like she's thinking about what she can do. "Aidan, can't you ever listen to me?"

She starts to cry as he slumps to the ground and is unconscious. A tear falls from her cheek onto him, with a small sigh she starts to take all of the weapons off of him. I watch as she runs off, away from Aidan. For some reason I think that a part of her doesn't care that he's gone. Katherina will probably team up with someone else now. Mark is alone and she will probably some how team up with him. That way she won't be alone.

"We should move on." Alwin says and he starts to pull me forward. "Before someone else comes by."

"Do you think that the others are in the….cave still?" We both look to our left and see something odd. Three people are coming out of the top of the cave. "What…"

We both move on slowly, but our eyes are still on the cave as the three people come down the side of it. Two of them fall, but the third lands lightly beside them. All of them walk the opposite way, but I see that they are arguing about something. Like we've been doing this forever together, we slowly move toward a bush that is close to them and stay low.

"We have to find them!" Richard's voice is full of desperation. "Then we will be in the final four, but we have to get those two out of the way!"

"It should be easy to find them. Haha…" Mark has an arrogant smile on his lips. "After all they are in love and we know that they won't break apart. You heard them, they are a team…."

Kayla is staring at them both, she looks a little unsure. "I need to rest a little…."

"Kay, you'll be fine. Honey, you are stronger then anyone else here." Richard says in a soft voice. "You killed Chase."

"You think that proves anything?" She demands. The expression on her face is of fear. "That was when his back was turned and I was full of energy."

"Wait…" Richard looks around and he smiles a small smile. "Oh, look…"

"Is that…" Kayla's voice goes up a pitch. "Aidan? What do you think happened to him?"

"I don't know, but he's gone." Mark walks toward the lake and I hear him laugh. "Maybe the lovebirds got him…."

Kayla laughs a small laugh, she sounds nervous. "You actually think they can kill someone? They seems too innocent."

"Let's go find Katherina." Mark says to the other two. "We can kill her and then we can find the other two….maybe once that boys out of the way I can pair up with what's her name."

"Aw, does Mark have a little crush?" Kayla's voice is child like. "If you kill the boy she won't partner up with you, I'll tell you that right now."

Mark laughs. "You wanna bet? She would be a hell of a lot safer with me. I could get her closer to the win…"

Their voices fade in the distance and I look over at Alwin. My eyes must be full of the fear that I feel inside of me, he squeezes my hand. We both stand up and run the opposite way that the Careers went. I can't let them kill Alwin….looks like I'll have to kill Mark before they have a chance to kill Alwin. We can beat them, I know that we can. Kayla is weak and she's breaking, it should be easy. I keep telling myself that and hope that I'm right.

I look up at a tree that's coming into view. Before I know it we are climbing it and we pick a branch about half way up and look down. This is a great spot, we'll be able to see if anyone's coming. To my surprise I see Katherina walk by the tree and there's a cold look on her face. She's alone and she knows it, she has to survive on her own. Katherina pulls out a knife and throws it, but she misses and it falls to the ground. That makes me feel a little better, Katherina is not good at aiming.

Taking a deep breath I string an arrow and aim it at her. She's too busy looking for another knife to notice. Closing my eyes I release the arrow and I hear her gasp. Looking down with tears in my eyes, I see her slumped on the ground. Katherina is dead. This is my first actual kill and its killing me to know that I did it. Sophia didn't count, she was already dead. Alwin's arm wraps around me and he holds me to him. Tears start to slide down my face and he kisses my forehead. Odysseus was right, even if you win the Game you aren't yourself. A part of you dies…

**Thank you for reading! Please leave me a review!**


	27. Chapter 27:Alwin, My Heart Stops Beating

**Hey everyone!**

**Hope that all of you had a good Christmas! I wasn't going to update today, but it was running through my mind all day and I wanted to so….ta-da! Hope all of you like my story so far, thank you for reading and thank you to those of you who have left me a review!**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

There are five of us left, which is a good thing and a bad thing. Less people to go against, but there is more of a fight to live now-to return home. Alwin and I are still in the tree, Katherina's body is still under the tree and its been a day. We know that we have to get out of the tree and soon, but we are putting it off for a few more minutes. Megan, Mark and Richard don't know how to climb trees as good as we do, so we are as safe as we can ever be up here.

Quickly we slide down the trunk of the tree and both of us flip Katherina's body over, I ignore the blood and the sick feeling that I get in the pit of my stomach. We take all of the weapons off of her, hers and Aidan's. But we both stop as we see something that looks like a large puzzle piece, I hold my breath as Alwin picks it up and pulls it out of one of the backpack she was carrying. Both of us smile as small smile as we see another piece of the map to the Capital, our way out of the arena.

"We have…." Alwin stands up straight and I smile up at him. "Two pieces….only one piece left."

To my surprise Alwin falls over and I almost scream. In his back, right by his right shoulder a knife is sticking out. No, that's the only thing that I can think of. Kayla, Richard and Mark come into view, all three of them are smiling and I feel anger swelling up inside of me. Alwin isn't dead, he can't be….I know that he isn't. The three of them all smile at me and I throw a throw a knife right into Richard's heart, this shocks everyone. I watch as Kayla frantically pulls it out, but what she doesn't know is that its one of the ones with poison in them. She pulls it out and cries out as Richard falls to the ground, all of the life leaves him. Mark turns to me with a look of shock on his face and he sees that I have another knife in my hand, one that's aimed toward him. Both of them run off, neither of them have any other weapons on them. But my knife goes through the air and I watch as it hits Mark, in the same spot that Kayla's hit Alwin. She turns back and watches as I begin to pull Alwin away, to my surprise she does the same to Mark.

It's hard but after a few minutes I get Alwin back to the cave that we were in during the storm and set him down. Alwin just lays there, but he's breathing-he's still alive. This is the first time that I've felt helpless, hopeless and not knowing what to do. With my eyes still on Alwin it hits me.

I look up at the ceiling of the cave. "Odysseus….help. Please…help me. Help us! Please!"

For a second there's nothing but then a voice booms around the arena and I have to rush to the back entrance of the cave to hear it. Anger is still coursing through me and the tears are still flowing down my cheeks.

"Congratulations to the final four! All of you have done well!" Its Brendan Cloverton's voice and right now all that I want to do is rip him to shreds. "Both final male tributes need the same thing! There has been a new rule added, if something is spent by a mentor while there are only four tributes left, the tributes must fight for it! In ten minutes a parachute will fall and there might be two of the things, that both of you two need. But it is up to the both of you if either of them get it…may the odds be ever in your favor!"

I look back at Alwin and I know what I have to do. Without thinking I run out into the arena, its obvious where this is going to be at…the cornucopia. My ankle hurts with each step, but I don't care, I can't feel the pain anymore. Anger is pushing everything out. The cornucopia is in view and I stop right by it and look around, waiting for Katherina to show up. She doesn't and the parachute falls. This is when I see her. We are both running toward the parachute. Both of us stop and I see a fear in her eyes, she still has no weapons. A part of me is yelling, "KILL HER! DO IT NOW! SHE ALMOST KILLED ALWIN!" I look down and see that there are two small tubes and I let out a breath. The look of fear in her eyes doesn't help me do what I know that I have to do to live.

"Take one and I take one." She stares at me in shock. "But we have to wait two days to fight or….I will kill you without thinking. Got it?"

"Y…yes…" She picks up one of the tubes and starts to back away. "Th-thank y-you. I'm s-s-sorry."

Yeah she's going to be sorry when we have to go head to head and I will kill her without a second though. Looking down I know that I've just signed up for an almost death experience when I let her go, but there's nothing that I can do now. I pick up my tube and run off, back to Alwin.

Once I'm in the cave I drop to my knees beside Alwin and pull the knife out, he groans in pain. Slowly I put some of the clear cream onto the cut, its pretty deep and I know that I lodged that knife in Mark, in a way that it will do more damage to him…good. I pull at Katherina's back pack until it rips and I wrap it around Alwin, its not a good bandage but its as good as I can do right now.

I stare at Alwin and kiss him once on the forehead, a tear rolls down my cheek and I kiss him on the lips, just once. His eyes open and I hear a small moan escape from his mouth. My eyes flutter open and the tears come out fast.

I stare at him, not really believing that he's still here with me. "Alwin….oh, my Alwin…."

**Thank you for reading! Please review! =D**


	28. Chapter 28:Another Cut

**Hey everyone! I hope that you like the story so far and I can promise you that this isn't the last of Acacia Yarrow, yes there will be another one coming soon after this one ends! =D Thank you for reading and another thank you to those of you who have left me a review, you have helped me so much! (There is a poll up about the title for the next story for Acacia! Please vote!)**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~* **

I stare at him and I feel his fingers intertwine with mine. My eyes shut and more tears fall out, a part of me thought that I had lost him. He stares at me and I feel his other hand touch my cheek, his fingers gently stroke my face. Before I know it I have my lips on his again, this time because I have to know that he's here-that he's with me. Alwin…I can't lose him, when I thought that I had lost him a part of me felt like it was breaking. My eyes open and I see him staring at me as I sit back on the ground.

"Ace…" His voice is dry and I grab one of the canteens, but to my horror its out. "No, its okay…."

"No. I have to get us water or else neither of us will survive." His hand tightens in mine and I see a fear in his eyes. "You can't leave me-they, they'll kill you. Ace…"

"No, they won't. Mark's kind of….in the same position that you are in." He just stares at me, not really understanding. "They tried to run away after I killed Richard, but…I got Mark in the same spot. Kayla and I have a small truce because I didn't kill her."

His eyes go wide in shock. "You came face to face with her again? Why didn't you kill her? She'll kill you without thinking about it."

"I couldn't…there was a fear in her eyes. That just didn't feel right." His eyes are soft and I know that he's thirsty and so am I. "Just lay here, I'll be back. Kayla won't mess with me, she has no weapons."

"That can change." He says attempting to sit up. I smile a little as his eyes begin to close a little. "She can get some…."

"Anything that is sent into the arena we have to fight for. They made a change to the rules and what a surprise that they would do it now." I settle him back onto the backpacks as I sit back on my knees. "Alwin, I know that its just because of me that they are doing this, they want me to die. Why would they have to make it this obvious to me?"

"Ace, you are going to live." Alwin's eyes have a fire in them that I have never seen before. But then he's unconscious.

I stare at him for a second, then I look down at the little tube in my hands and I smile a little. To take away the pain its drowsy. My eyes shut for a second and I silently thank Odysseus, then I stand up in time to hear Brendan Cloverton's next announcement. Another parachute is going to fall, so I run to the cornucopia and stand by it. There is no way that I'm letting her get her hands on anything else. A small blue parachute falls and I run toward it. My fingers wrap around it and I clutch it to me. Just a second later Kayla runs out of the woods, there is a fear in her eyes, a fear that tells me that she needs what ever I have in my hands. I glance down and see two knifes, two canteens of water, some bread, a little bag with something in it and a little bomb. My eyes flicker to her and I know what they want her to do, they want her to blow us up. Too bad this girl doesn't know how to use a bomb. She runs toward me, a branch is in front of her. A branch? That's all that I can think. Seriously?

But before she can get to me Brendan's voice is back. "Welcome both of the final female tributes! The Gamemakers think that we need to have a final face off for the female victor spot! So here we go! May the odds be ever in your favor!"

I stare at Kayla who looks terrified now, but she takes a step toward me and I feel a fire starting. Both of us look around us and see that a fire is closing in on us, the fire is shooting at us. We have to hurry up and kill each other, or the fire will kill both of us.

"It wasn't supposed to be you…" Kayla whispers as she swings the branch, but the branch breaks and she stares at it horrified. "I was supposed to go against Megan…"

"Well….you got me." I say through gritted teeth. Without thinking I let all of the anger surge through me. "You almost KILLED Alwin!"

I throw a knife at her and it lodges in her shoulder, she cries out in pain. But before I can do anything else she catches the stick on fire, a smile is on her lips. Now I know that I'm in trouble. Without thinking twice about it I pull out one of the poisonous knifes and aim it at her. Before I can do anything else she jabs the stick at me and I feel a searing pain. I look down and see that I am not on fire, my hand has a small burn on it, but my outfit is fine. She the fire at my outfit, but nothing happens. I silently thank Carmon. More anger rushes through me and she drops to her knees in front of me, I see a tear run down her cheek…but this time I can't feel bad for her. This is part of her game and I know it now.

"P-p-lease, don't k-kill me." She is begging and I feel powerful. The power doesn't feel like a good thing but I know what I have to do. "Y-you don't h-have tooo."

Before she can say anything else I throw the knife into her heart and I feel the fire going down. "Yeah….I do."

I open my eyes and see that the fire is gone and Kayla is at my feet. Kayla is dead, a part of me feels bad….but the other part says that I had to, I had to so that I can live and go back to my family.

My knees are weak as I stand up and I fall back to them, looking down I see that I have a small cut through my pants. Carefully I pull up the fabric and I see a small hole, with blood coming out. I shut my eyes and let the tears fall and the only thought that I have is, "get back to Alwin. You have to…."

So I start to crawl my way back to Alwin and all that I can do is hope that I get back to him before Mark feels better. Before Mark can go find Alwin and kill him. This is what pushes me forward, Alwin and I need each other. The pain gets worse as my leg brushes the grass. I look down and see that I'm leaving a trail of blood, without thinking twice about it I rip a large piece of my shirt off and tie it to my leg, then I continue on. Kayla is dead…..the only person left is Mark. Alwin can beat him, he can….

**Thank you for reading! Please leave me a review! =D **


	29. Chapter 29:A Memory Comes Back To Me

**Hey everyone! I was so excited and wanted to keep going so here's another chapter! Hopefully all of you like it so far and I'm hoping that all of you enjoy the sequel that will be coming on here shortly after this one is done. Thank you to all of you who are reading and who have reviewed. If you haven't already please vote on the poll for what the sequels title should be and thank you to those of you who already have.**

**Thank you and enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

**(May the odds be **_**ever**_** in your favor!)**

I am almost to the cave….almost there only a few more inches. The parachute is in my hand as I pull myself forward, the pain in my leg has increased. Once I am in the cave I pull myself toward Alwin, who is still asleep and I collapse down next to him. My eyes shut before my head even hit's a backpack. I made it back to the cave….I made it back to him.

_The coldness, the darkness and the rain it chills me to the bone. I quicken my pace trying to get home, my mom will wonder where I've been, what I've been doing. As my house comes into view I smile a little to myself, but then I see two people standing in front of my house, they seem to be yelling at each other. My eyes can't see that well through the rain._

_I get up to my house and see Alwin, his face is sad and I see that Ethan is glaring at him. My mouth opens, but before I can say a thing Alwin runs off and I turn to Ethan. Ethan just glares after him. None of this is making any sense, they never fight and we are all friends._

"_Ethan?" My voice is shaking from the cold and his cold eyes don't help anything. I just stare at him. "What's going on?""Nothing, its just…its nothing. It's better if you don't know anyways." He says and he turns. I watch as he walks into my house. "She's here. Don't worry, all of you can calm down now."_

_Silently I walk inside of my house and my mom has me in her arms just seconds later. She is kissing my head and crying, but I have no idea why. I look around me and see that Ethan's parents are here and so is Alyssa's family. My mom doesn't let go of me for almost half an hour._

"_Mom?" I ask finally getting out of her arms so that I can breath. "What's going on? Why is everyone so upset?"_

"_Oh, Aca!" She starts to cry even harder and I watch as my Uncle Billy takes my mom back over to a chair. "I thought that you…that you were gone too!"_

_I look around the room. "Wait, who's gone? Everyone's here aren't they? Mom, what's going on?"_

"_Acacia…its your father, he is gone. We can't do anything to find him either." The tissue is held up to her face and I can barley understand her. "Oh, honey! I'm so happy that you are here!"_

_My mom sends me to her room, where all of my siblings are sleeping. I walk over to the window, not really believing anything that anyone has told me. No, dad's fine…he will be home any minute, they'll all see. But the minutes tick by, each second becomes more excruciating then the last. A tear escapes from my eye and I hear a light knock on the window. I open it slowly and see Alwin. He looks like he's been crying too and before I can say anything he hugs me._

"_Ace…" His whisper gives me goose bumps. "I will always be here for you, no matter what. Remember that…"_

_He is gone as soon as the words are out of his mouth, but not before he places a kiss on the top of my head. After he leaves I curl up on the floor and just cry, Ethan comes in and tries to comfort me…but I don't want him to comfort me, I want Alwin to. Ethan's arm wraps around me and he tells me that everything will be okay. My body is shaking and all that I want to do is scream at him, "IF EVERYTHING IS OKAY THAN WHY ISN'T MY DAD HERE?"_

My eyes snap open and I see Alwin's face close to mine. His fingers are stroking my cheek, so carefully as though they are made of glass. I feel a tear escape from my eyes. Alwin pulls me to him and I allow myself to have what I wanted so desperately so long ago, at a time when I couldn't get it.

"Ace, its okay. It's going to be okay…." He is rubbing my back and I just let all of the tears come out. All of the tears that I held in after that night, that I would never let anyone else see. Holding them in has weakened me and now I am finally allowing myself to cry. "Shh, its okay. Calm down…I'm right here. I'll always be here…"

"I remember." He pulls away from me and looks at my eyes. The shock in his eyes is clear. "I remember….that night."

He kisses my forehead. "You forgot….I'm glad that you remember now."

"How could I ever have forgotten that?" I ask him and I feel terrible. Something is bothering me though. "Wait….Alwin, when you and Ethan were in front of my house. What were you two fighting about?"

I wait for his answer, but he doesn't answer right away. "We were fighting about who cared about you more and who was better for you. That was the night that everything changed, he told me that you and him were together. I believed him…"

"Oh, Alwin…him and I were never…" But his lips silence me and I know that he understands. I snuggle into him and feel myself getting drowsy. "Why…why am I so tired?"

"I gave you some medicine." Alwin says and he sits up. Gently he puts my head on his lap and I snuggle up to him. "That cut…was pretty bad."

The last thing that I can say is, "I'm fine."

I am asleep once again and I am pulled back to unpleasant nightmares. These ones are different. Katherina's body is pulled apart and turn into spiders, the spiders crawl toward me and start to attack me. They pull at my skin and rip chunks of it off, I scream but there seems to never be an end to it. Capital….they are winning, they won't let me ever truly win.

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review and vote on the poll! =D**


	30. Chapter 30:A Deadly Maze

**Hey everyone! Thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing! This means a lot to me and it keeps me updating! I have really enjoyed writing this story and am excited to start on the second one. No, this is not the final chapter but I am almost there. A part of me is sad, but I am happy that I get to continue! So thank you to all of you! I hope that all of you have enjoyed the story so far and will continue reading the rest of Acacia's story. **

**Thank you and enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

**(Please vote on the poll for what you think the next stories title should be, thank you to those of you who have already voted.)**

My eyes flash open and the spiders are gone. Alwin is holding me and I look up at him, he smiles at me. I try to sit up, but he keeps me down and right now I am too weak to fight against him. So I lay here and try to snuggle into him, but my mind has only one thought in it, where is Mark? Is Mark still living? But I know that we won't know the answer for a little while, for some reason I have a feeling that this Game is going to come to an end today.

"Don't worry." He whispers to me and I look up at him. I didn't notice that my eyes have tears in them. "I'm not going to die, we've come too far."

I sit up and this time he doesn't try to stop me. "Alwin, I don't know what to do…just the idea of you having to fight Mark makes me feel sick. What if I lose you? We don't know if he was sent anything dangerous."

"They don't have any weapons, we already know that." Alwin brushes the hair out of my face and where his fingers touch my cheek tingles. "We are going to get out of here. You and me, Ace…"

There is a loud sound outside and both of us stand up, we grab our bags and walk towards the opening in the back of the cave. We both walk outside and I know that this is the last time that we will see the cave. Alwin takes my hand in his and a wind starts up, one that is chasing us towards the cornucopia. Without thinking we both turn and run toward the cornucopia. It takes us a few minutes to get there and we drop to our knees once we are beside the cornucopia, the wind doesn't reach us here. My eyes wander around the arena, trying to see any movement. There isn't any.

"Do you think that…" I swallow trying not to think about Mark killing Alwin. "Do you think that he'll come?"

"I know that he will." Alwin says as he pulls out a few knifes and his sword. This is setting me on edge, having to watch Alwin fight to the death. "He has to, that is what they are doing this for."

I look around us. "Bringing us together…"

We both sit down in front of the cornucopia, watching every part of the arena that we can. Either Mark is almost dead or he is seriously injured, because he should have been here by now. I look over at Alwin, I know that if he hits him on his cut that Alwin will fall to the ground. Taking a deep breath I look down at my leg and pull up the pant leg, I suck in a breath. Blood is dripping out from under the bandage and is getting on my pants. Alwin's eyes darken as he sees the blood and he quickly re-bandages it.

"Are you okay?" He asks me when he's done. I take his hand in mine and nod. "Ace, are you sure?"

I smile up at him, even though I am in pain I am fine. "Yes, you are here with me. I'll be fine."

He smiles at me and we kiss one last time. We both look off to the left and see Mark basically crawling into the clearing. A part of me feels bad for him, but the other part of me is glad. This means that we are closer to winning, that we are closer to getting out of this arena. Alwin walks toward him and I stand up, not wanting him to walk out there alone. I watch as Mark grovels for mercy, for Alwin to let him live. My eyes shut as Alwin promises him a quick death, by the way that Mark looks I know that his time is about up. The knife sinks into Mark's heart and I start to cry. We've won….Alwin and I have won.

Brendan Cloverton's voice rings through the arena as Alwin takes the final puzzle piece from Mark. "Congratulations to our victors! You two must put the puzzle together and follow it to get to the airplane to get to the Capital! If you two go down the wrong trail there could be a terrible fate, so choose wisely. District Thirteen tributes Acacia Yarrow and Alwin Coin!"

We both stare at each other and drop to our knees as we meet. Our lips meet for a few seconds and I hug him tightly to me. Now its time for the biggest part, its like a huge maze. I stare at Alwin as we take all three of the puzzle pieces out, silently we put them together and they click into place. Alwin helps me stand up and we stare at the puzzle. Neither of us are sure about what way to go, one wrong move could be our death. Hand in hand we look down at the map and decide to go back toward the cave, it looks like it could be the right way. We are together, that's all that matters and we will either live together or die together.

"Ace, no matter what happens…" He says to me as we take our first step into the forest. "Remember that I love you and always have."

I smile at him. "I love you too."

I look back one last time and we walk farther in, hoping that we chose the right way. Our breathing is shallow and both of us are looking every which way. Alwin leads me and I have a feeling that we are on the right path…for now at least.

But I know that even if we are on the right path that the Gamemakers will make sure to throw in a few twist and I look down at the map. A small smile forms on my lips and I know that we are on the right path. But my eyes flash back up as I hear a twig snap, there is something up ahead.

**Thank you for reading and please review! There is a poll up for the next story of Acacia, please vote on it for the title! Thank you and may the odds be ever in your favor!**


	31. Chapter 31:A Wrong Choice

**Hey everyone! The new chapter, ta-da! Hope that all of you like it so far and are excited for the next Acacia story! Its sad to know that this one is coming to an end, but I'm excited to start on the new one. Thank you to all of you for reading and thank you to everyone who's reviewed. If you haven't yet please vote on the poll for the title for the new Acacia Lily Yarrow story. Thank you to those of you who have.**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

Alwin stares straight ahead and I try to see around him, but right after I wish that I hadn't. Standing there is a huge wolf and I shut my eyes for a second, hoping that it goes away. Before either of us can say a word to each other we are climbing up a tree and the wolf is following. We sit on the second branch highest off the ground, I string a bow and aim it at the wolf, it hits but doesn't do much damage. The wolf yelps in pain, but it just gets angrier. I watch as Alwin throws a knife and it hit's the wolf right in the eye, this makes it a little slower. Silently I pull out one of the knifes that have poison in them and try to aim, but my hand is shaking. Without saying a word Alwin takes the knife and lodges it right in the wolfs heart, the wolf falls to the ground. Both of us exhale and wait a few minutes before we climb back down.

"What way do you think we should go?" Alwin asks me and I point to the way that we were heading toward. "You want to keep going that way?"

"Yes, I think that it's the right way." He stares at me and I just nod my head. "They would want to try to scare us off of the right path to keep the Games going, think about it."

So we continue on, neither of us let our guard down…because if we do we are dead. We walk on and there is nothing, I exhale and try to think positive. Everything is going to be okay….everything is going to be okay. I feel a small drop of rain hit me, right on the forehead. The stinging from it makes me want to cry out.

"We have to get some where…" I tell Alwin and he just stares at me, he doesn't understand. "Come on!"

I lead him off to the side and to a small pile of rocks. The rocks are on top of each other, with a rather large rock on top and behind us. We both sit down as the rain stars to pour down, Alwin stares at it curiously. Alwin attempts to reach his hand out to touch it, but I stop him.

"Don't do that!" I snap at him and I feel bad for doing that, but I don't want to lose him. "Alwin, its not rain."

He nods his head once. "Ace, everything will be fine. Don't start freaking out or else we will die. Remember we can do this….we can do this."

"Yeah, Alwin's right." I say and look down. "Sorry for snapping at you, I'm just afraid that I'll lose you."

Before either of us can say anything else there is a strong pain in my right leg and I look down to see a stinger with the skin getting puffy around it, becoming a yellow tint. Oh no, I look frantically at Alwin. He looks over at me and everything starts to get fuzzy, I see things that I know aren't really there.

"Ace…" Alwin grabs me when he sees something and he sucks in a breath. The rain has stopped. "Are you okay?"

"Look over there…." I point off to the side as Alwin runs with me over his shoulder. "And there….and there…."

"Yes, I see everything Ace." He says and I before I know it I am being set down, in some sort of a cave. This cave looks really creepy and Alwin looks at my leg. I feel a small pain as he takes the stinger out. "Tracker jackers…"

"Alwin…" I say as he puts my head on his lap. "What….what's going on?"

"It'll be okay, just focus on….that wall." He says pointing to the wall across from us. I do as he tells me, but the wall turns into a thousand spiders and they all crawl towards me. My screaming and kicking doesn't help anything, but Alwin holds me to him. "Ace, its not real. It's okay….its okay…I'm here…"

I shut my eyes trying to block everything out and I fall asleep. But the horrible visions follow me here, I am still not safe.

"_Aca." The voice comes from behind me and I turn. A small smile forms on my lips as I see my dad standing in the doorway. It's my sixth birthday. "Happy birthday, honey."_

_I run to my dad and he picks me up, but when he puts me down we aren't in our house…we are outside on the night that the Capital wanted to take me from my family. My dad has a knife in his hand and the tall guy has a knife, plus a sword. They start to fight and then it all changes. All of a sudden my dad sighs and hands me over to the guy, he starts to walk away with me in his arms. My screams echo back to me, I don't want to go…I don't want to go. Then the next thing that I know the man slumps forward, someone pulls me into their open arms. It's Mr. Coin, Alwin's father. He's saved me. My dad gave me over to the Capital, he was going to let me go and most likely die. _

"_Aca!" My dad yells and I see him come running toward me. "You had to go…it was meant to be. Now…everyone will pay…"_

_Tears are coming rushing down my face as my father is dragged away, he blames me for everything. All of this is my fault and I know it. Mr. Coin saved me and he shouldn't have. How could my father allow them to take me? Or even think about letting them take me? I'm his little Aca…_

The dreams continue. Each one is just as horrible as the first, everyone appears in my dreams. I watch as my cousin Lily is killed in the arena, she was in the trial Hunger Games. Clips where shown to show us how much better these ones were then the old ones, Lily and her friend Kevin. Kevin died saving Lily. Lily went on to win, but to this day she is still not right. But in this dream….in my memory Lily throws Kevin to the mutants, to the large bear like things. She laughs as he falls to his death. Lily laughs as she is crowned victor.

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review and vote on the poll!**


	32. Chapter 32:A Change Of Plans

**Hey everyone! This is not the last chapter, but there are only two left after this one! Kind of happy and kind of sad about it. Thank you to everyone for reading and thank you for the reviews! I hope that all of you will read the sequel to Acacia Lily Yarrow, the first chapter will be out on the first! Hopefully all of you like that one! If you haven't yet voted on the poll it will be open until the thirty-first, so please vote! Thank you to those of you who have voted!**

**Thank you again!**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

My eyes flicker open and nothing feels real. It's hard to tell what's real from what's fake. Alwin makes me take a drink of water and I swear that the canteen turns into a large snake. He holds onto me and tries to calm me down, he even takes a drink of it himself. I lay in his arms, it's the only place that I feel safe and he strokes my hair. He tells me to calm down and that everything is going to be okay. Silently he takes a look at my leg and he sucks in a breath. After a few minutes of thinking he tells me to stay here and that he will be back in a few minutes. I beg for him to stay, but he kisses me once and leaves.

I lay here whimpering, all of the nightmares come back to me-but they can't be nightmares, they really happened! This is all a nightmare, these Games, my past, my future, my life. Alwin is the only thing that can calm me down right now and right now he has left me. For the first time in a while I am alone and that means that I have to face the nightmares on my own. My eyes shut and I try to focus on something else-anything else.

The next time that my eyes flutter open I am in Alwin's arms and everything seems like its back to normal. He smiles at me when I don't start freaking out and I hug myself to him. Silently I stand up and he just stays where he is, his eyes are on me as I start to walk out of the cave.

"Ace? Are you okay?" I nod my head and feel his hand on my shoulder. "What are you doing? You think that you can go on now?""Yeah, I think that we should go on." I turn and smile at him. His perfect lips are just inches from mine. "The sooner that we win the Games, the sooner that we can get out of this place."

"If you are sure…" He says and I press my lips to his. We kiss for a few seconds, trying to focus on something other then the nightmare that we are trapped in. "Together…"

I smile at him as we both put our backpacks on our shoulders and we each get our weapons ready. "We win…"

His eyes are glistening and he shakes his head. "Or die. We will always be together…no matter what."

We walk outside and we both start sprinting. I'm leading and we both have one thought in our mind, we have to win the Games before anything can kill us. There is nothing in our path as we run straight forward, a smile is on my lips. I stop when we reach an open area, we both look around and I have a feeling that we've reached it. Alwin and I have won.

Brendan Cloverton's voice rings out around us. "Welcome both of you! It makes me proud to announce that you two have made it! Now there has been a small change to the rules, just a small one. Only one of you two can continue on to the Capital. This change has been made in honor of the old version of the Hunger Games. Again congratulations to the two of you and may the odds be _ever_ in your favor!"

I drop down to my knees and start to cry. No, no, no! They cannot be doing this to me-to us! How can they just change the rules like this? Oh right, they are the Capital and want to make me suffer. Everyone knows that if I die it will make up for me not dying before and if Alwin dies….I am broken beyond repair. Alwin gets down on his knees beside me and he stares at me.

I already know what's coming. "Ace…"

"No. Alwin, no!" I growl at him. The tears start to fall even harder. "No, you can't! I won't let you!"

"Ace, one of us has to go on." He whispers to me and I know that everyone is still listening to us, trying to decide who will live. "I promised your dad-"

"I don't care! You don't get it, do you?" Now I am on the verge of hysteria. Every part of my body knows that I won't be able to survive without Alwin. "Please….think of something. Alwin….I can't live without you….I just can't."

He kisses my forehead and I start to cry even harder. There are tears in his eyes as he looks up at the sky. We are both trying to think of a way out of this mess, a way so that both of us can live or a way for us both to die together. I blink a few times as I remember something…

My eyes lock with his and I gasp. "Alwin…"

"What?" He asks as I pull one of the backpacks off of him. Carefully I open it and I smile at the thing that is our only hope, the bomb. Alwin pulls a match out of his backpack, it must have been in the parachute with the bomb. I watch as he lights it and he smiles at me. "Together…"

I smile at him through the tears. "Dead…"

"Or alive." He says and he starts to put the match toward the wick of the bomb. But he stops when there is a loud scream. "What the-"

"NO! STOP! PUT THE MATCH DOWN! YOU BOTH WIN!" Brendan Cloverton's voice is frantic as Alwin holds the match in his hand, not moving. "Lady's and gentlemen of the Thirteen Districts and the Capital our victors Acacia Yarrow and Alwin Coin, of District Thirteen. Congratulations to the two of you and District Thirteen!"

Alwin puts out the match as a hovercraft comes over us and we both stand up. A ladder falls down and we both grab onto the ladder. His arms are around me as we are frozen and taken up. Once inside the hovercraft they take the chips out of us and un-freeze us. We are separated, taken to different rooms to be 'repaired' after the damage the two of us have suffered during the Games. Odysseus walks into my room and he smiles at me.

"You did it." He says to me and he sits down in a chair by my bed. The way that he looks at me its like he's still in shock. "Congratulations!"

I try to sit up, but they have tubes and wires stuck in me, my eye lids are starting to fall and I know that I'll be out soon. "How's Alwin? He's okay, right? Did they knock him out?"

"He is fine. Acacia, you have to calm down." Odysseus looks over at one of the machines which started beeping loudly. "You will see him soon. Once we are in the Capital and then you get to go back to District Thirteen for a little while."

For a little while….then my life is back under the control of the Capital. I will never win, I am still playing their games. I'm still in the arena.

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review! =D**


	33. Chapter 33:A Reunion With Alwin

**Hey everyone! One more chapter to go after this one =(, but the sequel is going to come out on the first =D! I hope that all of you like the story and will read the sequel to see what happens next! Thank you for reading and for the reviews! Tomorrow the last chapter will be up and we will move on to the second story. Again THANK YOU to everyone who has read the story! (Please vote on the poll for the title of the second story, if you have already thank you! If you do thank you to you too!)**

**Enjoy!*~KelsNicole~***

I wake up and look around me. The tubes are out of my arms and I look around me, the room that I'm in is square and small, the walls are white. My eyes settle on Odysseus who is sitting in a chair in the corner, when he sees that I'm awake he stands up and walks toward me. He pats my hand with a small smile on his lips, I stare up at him. Odysseus looks pretty happy, but there is a fear in his eyes.

"Acacia." He says and his smile widens. My eyes are locked with his. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." I see that he is trying to tell me something with his eyes, but I can't tell what. He holds my hand for a second and I feel a piece of paper in it. Slowly he let's go of my hand and I look down at the crumbled piece of paper. "How's Alwin?"

"He's fine." Odysseus smiles at me. "You can't see him yet though. They want to save that for the reunion."

Looking down I un-crumble the piece of paper and see that he's written:

_Bomb + You + Both Of You Winning + Going Against The Capital = Angry Capital_.

I look back up at him, not believing it. He takes the piece of paper out of my hand, but our eyes stay locked. A fear runs through me, a fear that makes me feel like I'm chocking. What does this mean? Will everyone that I love die because of this? My family, my friends, my…..my Alwin?

I stop thinking and open my mouth. "What….what do I have to do? Can I do anything to put things right? Oh, Odysseus! Please…"

"Do what you did in the arena. Acacia….you have to be real." He looks down at his hands for a minute, breaking the eye connection. "That is your only hope. But I don't think that you will get off, not that easily."

Before I can ask him anything else Carmen walks in and he smiles at me. He takes my hand in his and kisses it. I get out of bed and follow him out of my room. Silently he leads me down the hall, to an elevator and we go down. We walk through two glass sliding doors and into a large room. My prep team is already there, waiting. All of them are eager and they set to work.

They all talk, but I can't understand them because they are all talking at the same time. Instead of me being taken into a separate room to get dressed, they all dress me right here. Looking down I see that I'm in a white dress, the dress goes down to my knees and it is sparkly. My hair is tied back by ribbon, the ribbon weaves in and out of my hair and ties together at the end. Cameron rushes me out of the room and he leads me out of the building into another building.

The building is large, but I don't have a lot of time to look around. We stop in front of a set of huge double doors. They are all smiling at me as though I have given them the best gift ever.

Cameron kisses my forehead. "You look beautiful and you did great. I am proud to be your stylist…"

I smile at him as he leads the prep team out of the double doors and I follow them. We are standing on the side of a stage, behind the curtains. They are called out, leaving me alone to think for a second. Alwin's prep team goes out next and then I am called out. As I walk out I try to smile and act happy, but I can't….I need to see Alwin, now. He is called out and I run over to him. Our arms wrap around each other and our lips meet. This is the best thing, seeing him again. Seeing him alive.

"Welcome! Welcome everyone!" Caesar Flickerman's voice rings out. "Ladies and gentlemen, our victors from District Thirteen….Acacia Yarrow and Alwin Coin! Come over here you two!"

The two of us walk over to him, hand in hand. We sit down on a couch together and I put my free hand on his face. Everyone watches us and I smile at him, he smiles right back at me. Our lips meet once last time and then we both look at Caesar Flickerman.

"Well, you two have a very interesting love story! You two captivated every viewer, everyone was watching to see what would happen." He looks at both of us with so much enthusiasm that I think that his face is going to break in half. "It was wonderful to watch your love for each other grow and watch you two fight for one another! Let's watch your story…"

The scenes flow together nicely, it starts from the beginning and it goes on to the maze part. We see each other breaking, but we both gather up the courage and break through. Finally we are reunited and it goes on from there. Sitting here and having to watch the deaths again, some that I did not see makes me feel sad and sick. At the end it shows the tears in my eyes, our last hope.

"So…" He says as the attention is focused on us again. "For the two of you…what will happen next?"

We look at each other, neither of us know what to say. "Um, we haven't gotten to talk about it yet. So…we will be as surprised as everyone else."

I smile at Alwin as we talk to Ceaser, who thinks that we should getting married and soon. Both of us laugh a little and say that we aren't getting married _yet_, but it could happen later on. After an hour we are allowed to leave, but we are taken to the train station to board the train that will take us home for a few months. Those few months will be our last in District Thirteen and then we will live in the Capital.

The flashes from the cameras are stuck in my head as we board the train. Alwin and I go to my room, we just want to be together. We lay down on the bed together and I smile at him.

"We are going home…" He smiles at me and kisses my forehead. "We will always be together."

Alwin presses his lips to mine once, lightly. "Always…."

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review! =D Acacia and Alwin would really like that….haha! **


	34. Chapter 34:A Place That I Call Home

**Hey everyone! Okay this is the last chapter for Acacia Lily Yarrow: My Hunger Games, this makes me sad….but I am excited about the sequel! Acacia Lily Yarrow: Igniting Fire is the title for the second story and I cannot wait to share it with you guys. Hopefully you like it and the ending of the story. Thank you for reading and supporting the story, it means a lot. To everyone who's left a review a huge THANK YOU! =D**

**Enjoy!**

***~KelsNicole~***

Abigail is all smiles as we eat our final meal together on the train, she is telling us what her favorite parts were in the Games. Odysseus is playing with his food and he looks a little sad. Everyone just sits here and listens to Abigail go on and on about how horrible it is that she can't return to the Capital until we do. It must be killing her to have to stay in District Thirteen until after the victors tour, which is just a terrible thing to have. We have to go from District to District and basically shove it in their faces that their tributes-their family-their children died.

Once we get back home we have to live in these huge houses until we leave for the Capital. These houses are in Victors Village, which used to be where the victors lived after they returned home. Alwin and I are holding hands under the table, we smile at each other. Both of us want to get away, we want to be alone without having to worry about each other being killed.

We both sneak off to my room and smile at each other, but my bedroom door opens. Both of us turn to see who it is and what they want. Lillian is staring at me with wide eyes and I walk over to my desk, silently I hand her a notebook and pen again. She looks down and starts to write, I watch as her hands shake. Alwin walks up to me and stares at her.

"What's going on?" He whispers to me. "Ace…why is she here?"

I turn back to look at him, its time for me to come clean. "She knows my father, he's alive…"

Before either of us can say anything Lillian hands me the paper back. We stare at each other for a minute before she lets go and I see a fear in her eyes. Taking a deep breath I look down at the piece of paper.

_There is talk in the Capital, they are saying that you will pay for what you have done. You have done what no one has done since Katniss Everdeen and they fear that you will do what she did. They are saying that they will destroy you before it gets that far, but that they have to do it in a way that would not be obvious. Be careful Acacia Lily Yarrow. Hale is afraid for you, your father is afraid that they will destroy you. You have to do everything in your power to not let that happen. _

I look over at Alwin who is staring at Lillian and I take a deep breath. Alwin hasn't looked at what she wrote, I hand it back to her before he can. Lillian stares at me and I nod, she leaves the room and I turn to a shocked Alwin. He stares at me and looks back at the door as Lillian disappears.

"What…" He shakes his head for a minute as though he can't make sense of what just happened. "What was that?"

"Nothing." I say and I smile for him, something that I've learned to fake while in the Capital. "She just said that she was happy that we won, that we are both alive…"

He stares at me and I can tell that he's not sure if he should believe me or not. I feel the train coming to a stop and smile a little wider, we are home. After all of these days on the train and not being able to be alone with Alwin we are finally home. Odysseus walks in to the room and ushers us out into the hallway. We both stare at him and he just shrugs, he walks out of the train. Cameras are flashing and both of our families are there.

"ACA!" Dula's voice is the loudest and she is in my arms a few seconds later. "You are back! I knew that you'd come back!"

Alwin and I are separated for the first time in a while, our families are hugging us both and telling us how much they love us. We meet up again in the middle when we trade off on our families, our hands touch for a split second and we smile at each other. I can't think about what the Capital is going to do to me, not now at least. Right now I just have to be with my family and friends.

We are escorted to Victors Village and little Dula is all jumpy. Alwin has one of her hands and I have the other, she is happy to have both of us back. For some reason Alwin is one of her favorite people now.

Alwin goes to his house and I go to mine, we agree to meet up tomorrow, but that we both needed to be with our families tonight. My family does not stop hugging me all night long, all of them are shocked and happy that I'm home. Well home for now…our new 'home' will be the Capital, something that none of us like.

Everyone goes to bed and as I lay down in my bed a weird feeling takes over me. Before I know it I'm walking down the stairs and there is only one thought on my mind, my mom is heading toward the stairs while I walk down. There is a frantic look in her eyes when she sees me reach the door.

"Acacia?" Her voice is low and I know that she's afraid that I'll never return, that this was just a lucky thing. She's afraid that I'll disappear like my father, but she doesn't know that he's still alive, that he's still fighting. "Where are you going?"I open the door and look over at my mom, our eyes lock. "Mom…I have to see Alwin. I know that you probably won't understand-"

"Go." She says with a small smile on her lips. This is the first time that I've seen her smile in years and it brings a smile to my lips. "I do understand…you need him and he needs you."

I smile as I shut the door and walk over to Alwin's house, just as I reach his front door it opens. We are face to face and I see that he smiles when he sees me. Both of us know what we want, what we need. Alwin steps out of the way and lets me into his house and I smile a little. But I turn and as the door closes I see Ethan. He's standing across the street, just staring. I see the hurt expression on his face and it makes me feel a little guilty, I didn't even go see him….he is or was my friend. The door closes and he's out of view. My hand meets Alwin's and we walk upstairs to his room, where we lay together and face the nightmares together.

**Thank you for reading and please leave a review! (The first chapter for Acacia Lily Yarrow: Igniting Fire will be out on the first! Thank you for reading and please check out the second story. If you like a Prim and Rory story I am writing one, so check that out too! =D) **

*************************************A Little Information That You Might Like******************************************

**Here's a few things that I just wanted to let you guys know, some of the things I did look up like names, flowers and the meanings of them. I think that you might like to read it, so...here you go! Haha, I wanted to keep the flower names in there so a few of the characters names are flowers =D, have a look!**

Acacia (I liked the name of the flower and decided because of the meaning of it that it would be perfect for my main character. Plus I wanted to use a flower name like in The Hunger Games. Her middle name is Lily and I think that you know why.): The symbolic meanings of acacia flowers are friendship, secret love, beauty in retirement and chaste love. Yellow acacia flowers symbolize secret love. Acacia is a genus of pod-bearing shrubs and trees. The leaves typically have a large amount of tannins, which are astringent substances that play a role in the ripening of fruit and aging of wine. Most species of acacia are native to Australia. Acacia seeds and shoots can be used for food. Acacia honey is considered to be a delicacy and acacia is an ingredient in a number of soft drinks and chewing gum.

Alwin: and the meaning of Alwin is elf or magical being, friend.

Calendula: (I love the name and what the flower looked like, this is the meaning of the flower.) The flower symbolism associated with the calendula is grief, despair and sorrow. Calendula blossoms in wine are said to ease indigestion. Calendula petals are used in ointments to cure skin irritations, jaundice, sore eyes and toothaches. The marigold is also part of the calendula family.

Gloxinia (another flower, I just wanted to keep going with the flower part and made some of the names flowers, that I felt made sense with the story and characters.): Love at first sight.

Ethan: firmness, long-lived.

Alyssa: rational.

Victor and Victoria- I wanted two of the people to have the meaning winner in their names, so I chose them.

Mors Neutro-I looked it up while trying to find something else to call the reaping and it means, death either way.

-_I just thought that I'd share why I named certain people certain names and the meanings. These are some of the ones that I could find again, I should have saved the things and I'm sure that I'll share more with time. Hope that this was interesting to you! =D_


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